Look at me—I am flying: The influence of social visibility of consumption on tourism decisions

This article focuses on the impact of social visibility of consumption on tourists’ purchase decision making. We focus on two important purchase decisions leading up to the time of departure: the choice of destination and the choice of an airline to get to the he results show that when individuals are concerned with how they are evaluated by others, they are more inclined to letting their image of the destination inform their willingness to visit a particular holiday destination. Further, the airline’s country-of-origin turns out to be a far more salient and useful information cue the more the holiday is perceived as being socially visible. Finally, the results regarding social visibility are more pronounced among travelers who are susceptible to normative influence than for travelers who are not susceptible.

► Tourists place higher importance on destination image when the holiday is perceived as more socially visible. ► Tourists also place higher importance on product-country image when the holiday is perceived as more socially visible. ► The influence of social visibility is further enhanced the more susceptible a tourist is to normative influence. ► The three-way interaction was also found for the product-country image—willingness-to-fly relationship.