The relationship between processes of consumer behavior model in tourism: A study on tourists

The consumer is one of the most important and complex unit of a marketing system. As several internal and external factors affect consumer behavior within this system, measurement and evaluation of the purchasing process is rather difficult. Consumer behavior is not as simple as purchasing a product or service by paying its price, but is also a process that has dimensions of post-purchasing. Understanding consumer behavior in every stage of the consumer behavior model which consists of problem recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchasing and post-purchasing behavior contributes to tourism marketers in developing products which will meet needs of consumers and in attracting more visitors and creating consumer loyalty.The main goal of the research is to analyze the relationship between stages of consumer behavior model. In order to reach this goal, this study determines five stages of consumer?s purchasing process and relates a model. Motivational factors (push factors and pull factors) represent the external variables and information search, evaluation of the alternatives, purchasing (holiday experience), and post-purchasing behavior (intentions) represent internal variables. The scope of the research is related to analysis between relationship internal and external variables and also relation between internal variables with one another will be analyzed. According to the results, whether or not the other internal variables have a limited mediator role in the relation between external relations (motivational factors) and intentions (post-purchasing behavior) is aimed to be measures.There is a relationship between internal and external factors as well as a considerably important relationship between internal factors. Among motivational factors, having a rest by being away from the work life is the main push factor which motivates tourists in purchasing a holiday. Beverages at the hotel, animation and entertainment and availability of information about holiday packages emerge as the main pull factors. Information search with the effect of motivational factor is effective on purchasing process. Friends and relatives, radio and television, advertisements, newspapers, magazines and internet are the main information resources of all participants in general. Evaluation of information is also as effective as motivational factors on information search. Choosing a right holiday package is directly proportional to the information on hand. Holiday experience is the stage where the expectation emerged in first three stages of the purchasing process is compared with the perceived holiday experince. In this process, consumers agree that the holiday they purchased is worth the money they spent, time and energy.A survey consisting of six sections was created in accordance with information drawn from a theoretical framework. The first five sections of the survey consist of variables in phases of consumer purchasing decision process. The second section includes questions about the demographic features of the participants. The survey was conducted among 406 respondents staying at four and five star hotels in Muğla, Turkey. The tools used to assists the data include descriptive statistics and structural equality model.The last part of the study, by statistically evaluating the relation between subjects, the conclusion was driven and recommendations were put forward. In conclusion, it is shown that there is a correlation between each factor affecting the phases of the consumer purchasing decision process. Moreover, there is a positive correlation between the phases and they affect each other positively. The last part of the study puts forward the concluding remarks as weel as implications for the theoretically background, practice and future research.