A STUDY FOR DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE PRODUCT DESIGN BY IDENTIFYING THE TOURIST PREFERENCES

Abstract

Conjoint Analysis is based on the simple premise that consumers evaluate the value of a product/service by combining the separate amounts of value provided by each attribute. In this chapter to apply Conjoint Analysis, first a set of real or hypothetical products or services were constructed by combining selected levels of each attribute. These combinations were presented to respondents, who provided only their overall evaluations. Thus, the respondents are asked to perform a very realistic task choosing among a set of services by rating/ranking. Because of construction of the hypothetical product/service in a specific manner, the influence of each attribute and the worth of each level as judged by respondent can be determined by the respondent’s overall ratings.

The state of Jharkhand was carved out of the southern part of Bihar on 15th November 2000. After the birth of the state of Jharkhand no much significant development in Tourism happened. Jharkhand tourism was chosen and some select districts were identified for the study. The districts are Dhanbad, Ranchi, Hazaribagh, Deoghar and Dumka. The current study focused on the relative importance given to the six identified attributes i.e. Value for money, Information, Security, Choices offered, Complaint redressal and modes of Access. The Conjoint Analysis results reveal that the tourists accord the greatest importance to ‘Information’ attribute, followed by ‘Security’ then by ‘Value for money’. They however place relatively less value on ‘Choice’, ‘Complaint redressal’ and ‘Access’. As a key policy implication this study aims to provide Jharkhand Tourism Department, valuable information about tourist preferences, so that they can design customized tourism packages; consequentially furthering the socio-economic objectives of the state like enhancement of revenue from tourism.