A study of inbound tourist’s expenditure behaviour in the Central Region of Ghana

Abstract

Tourist expenditure forms an integral part in the analysis of the impact of tourism. It is the goal of various tourism stakeholders to maximize tourism expenditures in order to increase the benefits of tourism. These goals can only be achieved if the stakeholders become aware of the factors that cause tourists to spend at the destination and the several expenditure categories (e.g. expenditures on accommodation, transports, and food and beverage, etc.) that lead to their total expenditure since that will enable them to identify effective strategies to achieve their goals. The main objective of the study was to examine the spending behaviour of inbound Tourists in the Central Region of Ghana. 260 respondents were conveniently sampled for the study. Questionnaires were used for data collection. From a theoretical perspective, this study contributes to the body of literature in relation to tourists’ expenditure by examining how tourists’ characteristics shape their consumer behaviour at the destination. This study found that, length of stay and travel party size were the travel characteristics that have relationship with tourist’s expenditure in the Central Region. It is recommended that tourism marketers and management organizations should segment their target market and develop better strategic marketing tools that will satisfy and fulfil those tourists’ needs in order to get them to spend more.