Tourists, prices and exchange rates

Abstract

Tourists travelling to foreign destinations commonly have to face a complex and new decision environment where new prices, new goods and new services are suddenly being evaluated. However destination prices are not necessarily straightforward as tourists need to "translate" destination prices via the exchange rate into their own currency. This study explored the difficulties that tourists may face in working out what prices they are paying in terms that they can understand, usually their home currency. A two phase study was conducted with a qualitative phase where travellers were observed while travelling in South America, and a quantitative phase where a simulation was conducted. The study found ample evidence of tourists making errors and finding difficulties as destination prices were being evaluated. It is suggested that these difficulties are related to situational (context) characteristics as well as personal characteristics (mainly mathematical ability). This study suggests that difficulties found in the context, and that may lead to errors, may, in the case of some tourists, be better dealt with by giving this responsibility to a third party, such as a prepaid package, credit card or tour guide.