A comparative research study to determine the role of consumer emotion and age in creating demand for a travel destination (New Zealand)

Purpose of study. The purpose of this research study was to identify the changes travel destination marketers need to make to advertising messages and their marketing strategies in order to increase consumer demand and visitor arrivals.; Research questions. The research questions examined in this study were: (1) Is there a significant difference in the average opinion score between travelers who have viewed travel advertisements with emotional themes vs those who have viewed travel advertisements with product information only? (2) Is there a significant difference in how each emotional theme and product advertisement is viewed among various age groups?; Methodology. This study employed a comparative experimental design. Data analysis used ANOVA and a Fishers LSD test. Questionnaires were distributed to 200 international visitors renting a motor home for their New Zealand vacation and 100 doctoral students in the USA.; Research questions. Research question one: This results of this study indicated that there was no significant difference in the average opinion score between travelers who viewed travel advertisements with emotional themes vs those who viewed travel advertisements with product information only.; Research question two: The results for this study indicate that there is a significant difference in how each emotional theme and product advertisement is viewed among various age groups. The results of this study suggest that; (a) a combination of product and emotional themes are required for older travelers to decode the value and the meaning of a specific travel product and motivate them to purchase the product; (b) travel destinations need to design unique messages with a mix of emotional and product content, targeted to specific age groups to build increased demand.; Literature review. The study examined the literature on innovation and marketing processes and suggested a model for travel destinations to build a sustainable competitive advantage.