Trip Budget and Destination Advertising Response

Abstract

Advertising is one of the most important tools for destination marketing organizations. As such, many advertising effectiveness studies have been conducted which focus on the direct consequences of destination advertising. However, little of this research has examined the linkages between responses targeting certain aspects of the trip (e.g., hotel accommodation, attractions visited, etc.) and changes in trip budget as defined by the length of stay and money spent. The results of this study confirm that changes in trip budget and response to the destination advertising are related and they both impact total trip expenditures, but their impacts vary based on the nature of the trip. These relationships provide important implications for the understanding and design of destination advertising programs.