Consumer Memory and Mental Categoriztation in International Travel Destination Decision Making

Abstract

In this paper research we analyze consumer judgments and associations of retrievals from their long-term memories of competing international service alternatives. We hypothesize and find strong positive links between mental categories with affective, cognitive and association judgments about competing service alternatives. The study is set within the context of international consumer holiday/vacation destination behavior. Based on the results of the study, including tracking studies when planning international marketing strategies are suggested to assess changes in how consumers categorize competing international purchase alternatives in their long-term and working memories