Interpretive Consumer Research: Uncovering the 'Whys' Underlying Tourist Behavior

Most consumer research in tourism is quantitative in nature as well as destination-based (e.g., Mehmetoglu and Altinay, 2006; Riley and Love, 1999). A number of good reasons have led to the dominance of destinationbased, quantitative studies. Especially, the reliance on destination-based studies ensures that the researcher generates knowledge of relevance to practitioners. Hence, the outcome of a destination-based study is likely to directly contribute to practitioners as this type of study clarifi es what tourists like and dislike about the destination and how destination marketers can improve their “product” in order to better fulfi ll the needs of their customers. Thus, this kind of study is excellent insofar as the purpose of research is to generate normative theory (Hunt, 1976) that offers suggestions as to how destination marketers may improve their situation (e.g., how to attract more visitors; how to make visitors revisit the destination; or how to improve customer satisfaction).