Title: An empirical investigation towards Indian consumer's preference over theme parks

Authors: Gunjan Malhotra; Jayanthi Ranjan

Addresses: Institute of Management Technology, IMT, Raj Nagar, Hapur Road, Ghaziabad – 201001, Uttar Pradesh, India. ' Institute of Management Technology, IMT, Raj Nagar, Hapur Road, Ghaziabad – 201001, Uttar Pradesh, India

Abstract: The type of theme parks nowadays available in India to the public covers a wide variety of businesses. The ratings for theme parks by consumers give an impetus in making consumers informed about various travel and tourism products. The paper empirically investigates by studying first the theoretical information of the theme parks in India followed by empirical analysis of the visitor's choice of the park. The first phase includes the information with respect to five major theme parks in India. The second phase includes survey technique to find why consumers visit a theme park. An empirical application is provided through descriptive and factor analysis, the selection of items is based on researcher's judgement and focus group discussions. This study examines three factors that consumer's perceive while visiting theme parks namely ethnic and cultural values; historical and entertainment factor.

Keywords: consumer preferences; theme parks; India; factor analysis; tourists; consumer ratings; travel products; tourism products; visitor choices; descriptive analysis; focus groups; consumer perceptions; ethnic values; cultural values; historical factors; entertainment factors; Ramoji Film City; Hayathnagar; Hyderabad; Andhra Pradesh; film studios; Veegaland; Wonderla; amusement parks; Kerala; Entertainment City; Noida; Uttar Pradesh; Essel World; Gorai; Mumbai; Fun n Food Village; Delhi; business excellence.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBEX.2013.050574

International Journal of Business Excellence, 2013 Vol.6 No.1, pp.22 - 36

Published online: 30 Sep 2013 *

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