<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<italic><bold>Introduction.</bold></italic> The dynamic increase in world tourism demand was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The package holidays market is one of the tourism branches affected by the crisis the most. The study aimed at identifying the direction of changes in purchase behaviors regarding package holidays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
<italic><bold>Material and methods.</bold></italic> The research on tourists purchasing package holidays during the COVID-19 pandemic was quantitative and covered a nationwide online panel of respondents characterized by a representative distribution for the general population of Poles (n = 1502). At the data analysis stage, logit models of buyers’ behaviors were used. In the estimation process, GLM in R (R Core Team 2022) was applied.
<italic><bold>Results.</bold></italic> The situation related to the COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected how tourists traveled. The conducted analysis made it possible to distinguish four segments of buyers during the pandemic and to identify factors determining the choice of one of the purchase patterns. Compared to the pre-pandemic period, a significant increase in the number of tourists who needed personal contact with sellers at brick-and-mortar travel offices was observed.
<italic><bold>Conclusions.</bold></italic> The study presented a meaningful contribution to understanding purchase behaviors of tourists who prefer package holidays. It is one of the few studies that compared behavior patterns of holiday package buyers in the period before and during the pandemic. The knowledge of changes in package holiday purchase behaviors is essential for travel agencies to design effective marketing strategies.
</abstract>

Introduction. The dynamic increase in world tourism demand was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The package holidays market is one of the tourism branches affected by the crisis the most. The study aimed at identifying the direction of changes in purchase behaviors regarding package holidays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Material and methods. The research on tourists purchasing package holidays during the COVID-19 pandemic was quantitative and covered a nationwide online panel of respondents characterized by a representative distribution for the general population of Poles (n = 1502). At the data analysis stage, logit models of buyers’ behaviors were used. In the estimation process, GLM in R (R Core Team 2022) was applied.
Results. The situation related to the COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected how tourists traveled. The conducted analysis made it possible to distinguish four segments of buyers during the pandemic and to identify factors determining the choice of one of the purchase patterns. Compared to the pre-pandemic period, a significant increase in the number of tourists who needed personal contact with sellers at brick-and-mortar travel offices was observed.
Conclusions. The study presented a meaningful contribution to understanding purchase behaviors of tourists who prefer package holidays. It is one of the few studies that compared behavior patterns of holiday package buyers in the period before and during the pandemic. The knowledge of changes in package holiday purchase behaviors is essential for travel agencies to design effective marketing strategies.

The Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic Threat on Purchase Decisions of Travel Agency Customers in Poland

Faculty of Economics and Finance, Department of Econometrics and Computer Science

Wroclaw University of Economics and Business

Faculty of Management, Department of Marketing and Tourism Management

Polish Journal of Sport and Tourism

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Introduction. The dynamic increase in world tourism demand was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The package holidays market is one of the tourism branches...

The Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic Threat on Purchase Decisions of Travel Agency Customers in Poland

Published Online: Dec 30, 2022

Page range: 37 - 45

Received: Jun 13, 2022

Accepted: Oct 24, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/pjst-2022-0025

Keywords
travel agent, package holiday, tourist decision making, COVID-19, ROPO behavior

© 2022 Andrzej Dudek et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic Threat on Purchase Decisions of Travel Agency Customers in Poland

Published Online: Dec 30, 2022

Page range: 37 - 45

Received: Jun 13, 2022

Accepted: Oct 24, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/pjst-2022-0025

Keywordstravel agent, package holiday, tourist decision making, COVID-19, ROPO behavior

© 2022 Andrzej Dudek et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
travel agent, package holiday, tourist decision making, COVID-19, ROPO behavior