An Experimental Study For Identifying Web Site Design Characteristics Affecting Touristic Purchase Decision

This study aims to identify web site design characteristics and consequently touristic product perception level differences depending on demographic characteristics of tourists and tourist types in tourism marketing, and thus to determine whether there are any differences among the touristic product purchase decisions depending on perception levels of tourists. Travel planner, domestic hotel and tour options, overseas hotel and tour options, transportation services, holiday opportunities and accommodation and tour options have been identified as web site design characteristics. Under the study, data have been obtained by using EEG (Electroencephalography) and eye tracking methods. With EEG method, numerical values at microvolt level were obtained from AF3, F7, F8, F3, F4, AF4 bands on prefrontal lobe areas of the subjects. Prefrontal lobe scans, picks, evaluates, construes stimuli from internal and external sources, creating new ideas and decisions. Therefore, an experimental analysis has been conducted on this area to evaluate touristic purchase decisions. Independent Sample T Test has been used in analyzing working hypotheses. Sample size under the experimental study consisted of a total of 26 volunteer consumers, of whom 13 were women, 13 men, aged 18 and above, who had the capacity to create demand and who purchased holiday package over internet. As a result of analysis of the data, it has been found that, by sex, male consumers had a higher level of perceiving the modules of travel planner, domestic and overseas hotel and tour options, transportation services and holiday opportunities relative to female consumers, that, by age, consumers aged 30 and above had a higher level of perceiving the modules of domestic and overseas hotel and tour options relative to consumers aged below 30, that, by income status, consumers having income of TL 5000 and above had a higher level of perceiving the modules of domestic hotel and tour options and holiday opportunities relative to consumers having income of below TL 5000, that, by educational status, university-graduate consumers had a higher level of perceiving the modules of domestic hotel and tour options, transportation services and holiday opportunities. Postmodern-tourist-type consumers were found to have a higher level of perceiving the module of overseas hotel and tour options relative to other tourist types. As a result of watching 117-second video incorporating web site design characteristics, consumers were found to focus mostly, for 6.211 seconds, on domestic hotel and tour options.