Visitors to Christchurch : characteristics and decision-making

Abstract

This report presents the results from a survey of visitors to Christchurch, New Zealand which investigated visitors' general characteristics (e.g., age, gender, origin country, group type, etc.), prior knowledge of Christchurch and perceived information needs, recommendations and decision-making processes (e.g., timing of itinerary planning, perceived influences on decisions). A selective review of the literature on visitor decision-making is presented which emphasizes the various processes involved and the role of information. It also explores the affective and family contexts of visitor decision-making. An alternative understanding of decision-making is presented based upon discursive psychological approaches that emphasise the discursive work carried out by visitors' discourse about information and their decision-making. This approach helps to highlight the role that information-gathering activities have in the visitor experience and the interactions visitors have with information sources.