Properties of first-time vs. repeat visitors: lessons for marketing Norwegian ski resorts

Abstract

This paper explores the potential in foreign markets for winter tourism in Norway and discusses the influencing factors explaining why foreign tourists visit and revisit Norway on ski vacations. In a decreasing market, it becomes increasingly important to destination managers and marketers to choose the right marketing strategies and direction. We focus on characteristics that influence and explain why foreign tourists choose to return. More than 3000 respondents from Sweden, Denmark, and Germany were asked for their image of Norwegian ski destinations and criteria for winter vacation selection. We fitted mainly hurdle and quantile regressions to gain consistent and less biased estimates. Stable snow conditions, combining alpine and crosscountry skiing, and no fees for the latter are some of Norway's competitive but seldom marketed advantages, and especially towards repeat visitors. Repeaters typically prefer self-catering accommodation and are less price sensitive. Surprisingly, foreign ski tourists are not very interested in other snow-based activities or cultural attractions. Despite repeaters constituting the majority of foreign ski tourists, neither the national development and marketing agency (Innovation Norway) nor local tourist organizations and marketers have a strategy for targeting them. We recommend a shift from profile marketing towards segmented marketing, aimed especially at the repeat-visitor segment.

International tourism demand to Finnish Lapland in the early winter season

“…In addition, new outdoor activities that are all more or less dependent on snow, such as snowshoeing, Santa Claus safaris, ice-fishing safaris, reindeer and husky safaris, and sighting of Northern lights, have become increasingly popular among tourists during the sample period. This shows that visitors to Finnish Lapland in the winter season are interested in a mix of snow-based activities rather than downhill skiing only (Tjørve, Lien, & Flognfeldt, 2015).…”

Does the Repeat Tourist Spend More Than the First Time? A Contribution to the Literature

“…Moreover, the tourist may spend less due to prior knowledge of the destination or even bring friends and relatives who are unaware of the tourist destination (Wang, 2004;Tjørve & Flognfeldt, 2015). Besides it, Lee et al, (2009) have verified that "first-time visitors associated more strongly with relationships on food value and souvenir value than did repeat visitors."…”

“…It is only from the 2000s that the analysis of the profile of repeat and first-time tourists began to receive more attention from researchers in Tourism (Lau & Mckercher, 2004;Wang, 2004;Robinson & Gammon, 2004;Craggs & Schofield, 2009;Lee, Lee, & Yoon, 2009;Alegre & Cladera, 2010;Tsitsiloni, Grigouroudis, & Zopunids, 2012;Cheng Chen, & Meyer, 2013;Petrick, 2004;Tjørve & Flognfeldt, 2015;Wahid Et Al., 2016). This fact justifies the need to carry out a broad survey of the existing literature to present the theme with its most diverse approaches.…”

“…However, many studies show that the more the tourist repeats a tourist destination, higher the likelihood of the greater the possibility of it returning (Kozak & Rimmington, 2000;Badarneh & Mat Son, 2011). However, the most relevant studies seek to understand the determinants of tourist spending (Brida & Scuderi, 2013;Maroccu, 2015) but only some of them has investigated the differences between "first-time" tourists' and "repeat" tourists from the economic point of view (Petrick, 2004;Robinson & Gammon, 2004;Alegre & Cladera, 2010;Tjørve & Flognfeldt, 2015).…”

Enhancing employee performance using selected leadership styles of middle-line managers in the hospitality industry in Mid-Western Uganda

“…By addressing the levels of employee performance, a number of positive outcomes are realised including higher competitive advantage and increased number of visitors (Jasinskas et al, 2016) as well as greater confidence among repeat and prospective visitors (McCartney and Ge, 2016). Put differently, employee performance can facilitate first time visitors to the Hotels to be impressed with the region, thereby planning a repeat visit against their counterparts from other regions (Tjørve et al, 2015). While there could be a number of contributory factors, leadership styles within the hospitality industry appear to play a major role.…”