An Investigation of the Tourism Distribution Channels in the VFR Segment

Authors

  • Vicky C. Katsoni Athens Technological Educational Institute, (TEI), Faculty of Management and Economics, Dept. of Business Administration, Division of Tourism Administration

Abstract

This study contributes to the understanding of the Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) travel segment, as it focuses on the use of tourism distribution channels as information sources for consumer travel behaviour in the VFR segment. Demographics and trip characteristics of the VFR travel segment were also analysed, according to trip organization (package holiday/self-guided holiday), time used to decide about the trip, type of accommodation, travel companion, and booking; the findings justify the significant and profitable role of VFR in commercial accommodation. The data are representative of the province of Arcadia, Greece, serving as the research field of a longitudinal study. The findings underscore the important role that VFR travel holds in commercial accommodation, confirming the ‘hybrid’ nature of VFR travel, and highlight the importance of social identity issues involved in VFR travel, as well as indicating an emerging role of the diasporas in their return visit(s) to the homeland. As such, the findings would seem to promote a marketing strategy of organized governance that takes into account identification and focuses on a ‘sense of belonging’ and community, tailored to the characteristics of this particular target market and aligned with the distribution channels they use, as evidenced in the research findings.

Keywords: VFR travel, consumer behaviour, distribution channels, tourism marketing, tourism segmentation

Author Biography

Vicky C. Katsoni, Athens Technological Educational Institute, (TEI), Faculty of Management and Economics, Dept. of Business Administration, Division of Tourism Administration

Dr. Vicky Katsoni is a full Assistant Professor at the Technological Educational Institute (TEI) of Athens, Greece and she is also teaching at the Greek Open University at the MSc program of Tourism Management, as well as in the e-Tourism Module in the National Kapodistrian University of Athens, Faculty of Business and Social Sciences, Distant Learning Programs. She holds a PhD in Tourism Marketing Management and ICT Applications in Tourism from the Panteion University, Department of Public Administration, Greece, an MBA from the University of Keele, School of Management and Economics, England, a BA (Hons) in Economics from the Law School, Kapodistrian University of Athens, Department of Economics and a BSc in Tourism Management from the Technological Educational Institute (T.E.I.) in Thessaloniki, Faculty of Business Management, Greece. She has published 7 books on tourism, chapters in edited volumes, and numerous papers on highly academic journals. She is the President of the nonprofit “International Association of Cultural and Digital Tourism” and a member of the Editorial Board of many journals in tourism and marketing. Her research interests include tourism marketing, tourism destination strategies and DMOs, tourism distribution channels, digital tourism, and tourism consumer behavior and has participated in several European and National research projects.

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Published

2017-01-22

How to Cite

Katsoni, V. C. (2017). An Investigation of the Tourism Distribution Channels in the VFR Segment. Academica Turistica - Tourism and Innovation Journal, 9(1). Retrieved from https://academica.turistica.si/index.php/AT-TIJ/article/view/49

Issue

Vol. 9 No. 1 (2016)

Section

Articles

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