Travel Destination Choice - 31

Introduction

According to the Committee of the tourism industry, only in 2003, tourist firms served 42,240 residents of Almaty city who booked a tour to travel around the world; but 7 years later, the number of travelers reached 165,764 (Ministry of Industry and New Technologies of the Republic of Kazakhstan, 2011). In other words, the level of exit tourism increased by 392,4 % in a very short period of time. Also, more than one fifth of a million domestic travelers were served by the tourist firms, which in turn meant that the number of tourists has doubled, during only the last decade (Mamanova, Sadyrova, & Tufekcioglu, 2013). Thus, one should note that the development of domestic tourism has grown dramatically.

During the second half of twentieth century, when the Republic of Kazakhstan was a part of the Union of Soviet Socialistic Republics (U.S.S.R.), there was a get-tough policy of Iron Curtain that restricted people from travelling abroad (Kuznetcova, n. d.). Zhizhanova (n. d.) emphasized that each inhalation and exhalation of USSR’s travelers was under the control of KGB (Committee for State Security). The reason for this was the fear of loss of the citizens in the sense that most of them might prefer to stay abroad. It was a truly rare case when someone had an opportunity to go somewhere abroad during the vacation time. If on the one hand it can be said that there were certain limitations for exit tourism, the same is not true for domestic tourism, since the government was interested in the development of internal infrastructure. However, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, there was a beginning of a new tourism industry because Kazakhstan got its independence and entered the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNTWO) in 1993 (Zholdasbekov, 2010). Thus, a growth of both inbound and outbound types of tourism in Kazakhstan has been seen.

Over the past 20 years there has been a dramatic increase in the number of people who have started to spend their vacation time abroad and within Kazakhstan. Hence, it can be said that citizens of Kazakhstan gained a great opportunity to travel around the world (Kuznetcova, n. d.). As LaMondia, Snell, and Bhat (2009) suggest, there is an importance of understanding travelers’ behavior and their choices of certain holiday destinations, since it may be helpful for planners to increase the demand of their services from tourists. However, little is known about holiday destinations of Almaty residents and it is not clear what factors influence people’s choices. It has to be researched, since acquired information can be very useful for travel agencies since they might recognize what attracts Almaty residents and use these opportunities to promote the industry of Kazakhstani tourism and increase the demand for the use of their services. Also, investigations may show the government what kind of services should be improved in order to increase the economy of the country. In addition to this, one can say that it would be very interesting for students and their parents to recognize what places their peers prefer to go, as they might be able to make better decisions of choosing an appropriate vacation destination and thus to enhance their quality of life.

The aim of this study is to investigate vacation destination preferences of Almaty residents and factors that have a direct influence on their choices. LaMondia et al. (2009) argue that studying of travelling habits may help to get better understanding of what destinations Kazakhstani tourists choose and where they come from. The research will also be conducted in order to find out why some travelling behaviors prevail and what Almaty residents think of the places they have visited. In addition to this, one of the purposes of the study is to find out how local locations can be better adapted to meet customers’ and potential customers’ needs. Hopefully, further findings would contribute to discovering a relationship between several factors such as age, social status, types of accommodation, travelling arrangements, behavior and so on of tourists related to their destination choices. Looking at how our modern society is developing, it should be noted that travelling preferences might be reconsidered and changed anytime.

This study aims to address the following research questions:

1. What holiday destinations do Almaty residents prefer?

2. What factors affect their choice?

The study will be conducted in the form of a survey, with data being gathered via telephone, and face to face interview and questionnaires. A survey method is one of the more practical ways of collecting the data in this case because my research needs a big number of people. There will be a random sample of participants, since my study requires people with different ages. Approximately 50 or 60, or more people will participate in the survey. Almaty residents will take part in a questionnaire and managers of travel agencies will be interviewed.

The hypotheses of the research are as following:

• The main factor of choosing a current vacation destination is accommodation comfort level

• Most Almaty residents prefer to spend their vacation time abroad

• Older generation is more likely than younger to stay locally than traveling somewhere abroad

It could be seen that not so long ago the tourism industry started its development. One should, nevertheless, not forget that any new type of industry needs deep and careful investigation, which in this case will be carried out in this project. The main objective, which is needs to be investigated, is to identify Almaty residents’ holiday destinations and factors that affect their choice. Subsequently, it seems extremely important for the government to recognize what are the main characteristics of vacation preferences are, in order to understand what attracts Kazakhstani travelers, and make further improvements for the bright future of the country. Besides, knowledge of destination preferences is equally important for travel agencies to build up new marketing campaigns.