Advanced analytical methods in tourism marketing research: usage patterns and recommendations

The issue of marketing metrics in the digital era is particularly relevant given the potential opportunities provided by 'big data' and the need to understand how to evaluate social media marketing activity. The section opens with a review of quantitative methods in tourism marketing research (Chapter 14). Mazanec, Ring, Stangl and Teichmann begin by reviewing the main techniques used in tourism marketing research. They argue that in general there is a lag in methods being adopted in tourism research from the main marketing field. Examples such as Principal Component Analysis and social and semantic network analysis are provided. The authors deal with foundational issues such as critical factors underpinning knowledge drawn from scales; a range of issues relating to assumptions underpinning Structural Equation Modelling; segmentation and clustering techniques and discrete choice modelling. The chapter synthesizes the main methodological issues facing quantitative marketing analysts in tourism and provides new avenues for future research that promise to overcome current challenges