Research Focus: Investigating the behavior of detailed itinerary travelers versus spontaneous travelers, with a specific emphasis on how these behaviors manifest in the context of purposefully planned trips, such as golf trips.

Background: Some travelers meticulously plan their trips, spending extensive time researching maps, sites, and activities. These detailed itinerary travelers aim to optimize their travel experience by planning every aspect of their journey. Conversely, spontaneous travelers prefer to make decisions on the fly, enjoying the flexibility and surprise of unplanned adventures. Despite these differing approaches, most travel sites focus primarily on booking essential travel components like hotels, flights, and car rentals, often leaving activity planning to the traveler or hotel concierge.

Research Question: Can we study the specific behaviors, decision-making processes, and confirmation timelines for travel details, particularly for purposefully planned trips such as golf trips?

Objective: To analyze the planning behaviors of detailed itinerary travelers and identify how, what, and when travel details are confirmed for a typical trip, with a focus on enhancing travel site offerings to include comprehensive activity planning.

Significance: Understanding these behaviors can provide insights into improving travel services, tailoring offerings to meet the needs of different traveler types, and potentially developing new tools or features that facilitate more comprehensive trip planning.

Proposed Research Methodology:

1. Literature Review:

• Conduct a thorough review of existing studies on traveler behavior, itinerary planning, and the use of travel sites.
• Identify gaps in the current research that pertain to activity planning and confirmation processes.

1. Survey and Interviews:

• Design and distribute surveys targeting travelers who identify as detailed itinerary planners and spontaneous travelers.
• Conduct in-depth interviews with a subset of survey respondents to gain qualitative insights.

1. Case Study Analysis:

• Perform case studies on purposefully planned trips, such as golf trips, to observe the planning process in real-time.
• Partner with travel agencies or online travel platforms to gather data on booking patterns and user behavior.

1. Data Analysis:

• Analyze survey and interview data to identify common themes, behaviors, and decision-making processes.
• Compare the planning timelines and confirmation details for different types of travelers.

1. Recommendations:

• Develop recommendations for travel sites to enhance their services based on the research findings.
• Propose features that could help detailed itinerary travelers plan and confirm their activities more efficiently.

A dedicated resource will be available 7 x 24 x 365, we hope to leverage the university tools and technology.