Applying discrete choice models to understand sport tourists' heterogeneous preferences for Winter Olympic travel products

Abstract

This study aims to better understand how South Korean sport tourists show their preferences for Winter Olympic travel products. Comparing a series of discrete choice model (DCM) techniques, this study also investigates what attributes comprising PyeongChang Winter Olympic travel products are considered by sport tourists important and how they make trade-offs among those attributes for purchasing an optimal product. Study findings suggest that respondents place distinctive importance on each attribute to yield their greatest amount of utility through jointly considering a set of Olympic travel product attributes. Results also indicate that sport tourists put high willingness-to-pay values for multiple opportunities of attending skating competitions and popular tournaments while they show strong interests in more sightseeing and recreational experiences. Based on different DCM estimation results, several management strategies are presented for developing quality Olympic travel products.