Saber
versión On-line ISSN 2343-6468
Resumen
PAREDES, DORIS COROMOTO y MORILLO MORENO, MARYSELA COROMOTO. DIRECT COMMUNICATION FROM TRAVEL AGENCIES ON MÉRIDA OUTBOUND TOURISM . Saber [online]. 2016, vol.28, n.1, pp.125-136. ISSN 2343-6468.
In their mission to offer tourist products and services under the image of consultants, travel agencies can influence the decisions of customers. In Merida state there is an important offer of travel agencies willing to provide information and advice to local users; these agencies could influence the direction of outbound tourist flow from the state. The purpose of this research was to study the influence of travel agencies, located mainly in Libertador municipality of the state, on the buying process of their customers, residents of the state, through the use of direct communications. To this end, a non-experimental cross-sectional research was designed, as a field study, in which 29 agencies and 400 users were randomly selected and studied. Contrary positions or perceptions were found between travel agencies and users regarding the type of information received, its orientation and influence on the customer’s buying process towards a particular destination or tourist product. The type of information and the message issued by most travel agencies to motivate and persuade -as they stated-, is not decoded and perceived as such by customers, since they do not recognize the influence of agencies nor determine their behavior.
Palabras clave : Intermediary; buying process; Merida; Venezuela.