Preferences of visitors of mass events towards travel information messages

Abstract

During the influx to mass events in the past, situations have regularly arisen that people experienced as unpleasant or even unsafe. Nowadays, many researchers focus on regulating this influx by influencing travel choices, where only little attention is paid to travellers’ preferences. This research identifies the preferences of different type of visitors towards receiving information, and the extent to which visitors with different information profiles act on the information messages they receive. A survey was distributed (N=378), and the number of variables was reduced by performing an Exploratory Factor Analysis. The Latent Class Cluster Analysis distinguished three clusters based on their information message preferences. The results show that people are most interested in receiving information via email a few days before departure and that it is challenging to inform them at a later time. The most impressionable cluster mainly consists of young people, unfamiliar with the event area. Event organisations can apply the results by better-aligning communication with the preferences of their visitors. The differences in behavioural intentions between the clusters turned out to be limited. This must be further investigated since it is not in line with expectations.