Demand analysis of global retail tourism

Abstract

While shopping has long been recognised as an important component of tourism activities that generate significant revenue for tourist destinations, little attention has been paid to the determinants of tourists' shopping behaviour. In this study, a two-stage modelling method is used to examine the factors that affect tourists' expenditure on retail products, such as socio-demographic status, tripographic characteristics and economic status. These factors are found to influence both tourists' shopping budgets and the allocation of these budgets among product categories. Different shopping patterns are observed across geographical regions. The study provides a theoretical framework for analysing tourists' shopping behaviour and the empirical results shed light on tourism product design and the promotion of tourism destinations.