The application of a two-stage decision model to analyze tourist behavior in accommodation

As tourism products are not necessities for people's livelihood, zero consumption data are usually observed while conducting studies on topics that are relevant to tourism expenditure using cross-sectional research data, and a similar problem exists in tourist accommodation expenditure. This study adopts a two-stage process to examine the factors influencing tourist accommodation decisions in the domestic market, applying the dependent double-hurdle (DDH) model while using the dataset on Survey of Travel by R.O.C. (Taiwan) Citizens for the years 2014-2018. The findings reveal that, in the two decision-making equations, the social stratum, family life cycle, residential area, tourism behavior, vacation policy, and economic variables have different degrees and directions of influence on the intention to use and expenditure on tourist accommodation. Such information presents the processes involved in deciding to accommodate and how much to spend on accommodation, thereby indicating that it is inappropriate to use the single-equation analysis consisting of zero consumption expenditure data and to assume that the same variables influence the participation and consumption decisions.