Impulsive Stopping Decisions of the Traveling Public

Abstract

What makes travelers interrupt their journey and make a rather impulsive or unplanned stop at a particular travel facility? To gain an understanding of this stopping-decision process, a general stopping-decision framework is proposed and examined through three studies. Qualitative research in Study 1 supports the notion that stopping-decision processes generally begin with the identification of a need (such as gas or food), and conclude with the stop at a travel facility (such as travel plazas or rest areas). Study 2 uses a national panel survey to identify the traveler and trip-related characteristics that influence the stopping-decision process. Study 3 used a series of exit surveys to further examine the characteristics that influence travelers’ perceptions of travel plazas. The proposed framework can help operators of travel facilities gain a better understanding of what makes travelers interrupt their journey, how they decide which facility to visit, what they do at the facility, and how to attract them. These insights can be used to determine optimal locations for travel-facilities and what trade-offs should be made to develop facilities that attract travelers.

Keywords: Tourist behaviors; Intermediate stopping places; Tourist decisions; Travel stops; Conjoint analysis; Stopping decisions; Travel plazas; Hedonic and utilitarian