Abstract:

The tourism industry provides great economic and employment advantages for many of the developed and developing countries in the world. The families represent a broad and growing market for the tourism industry. The increasing importance of family purchasing decisions, especially in the tourism and travel industry, makes it compulsory that products and services be adapted to the needs of families. The aim of the study in this context is to identify the factors that are effective in the selection of the place where families with children from 0 to 12 years of age are going to spend their holidays and to compare these factors according to demographic variables. For this purpose, data were collected with face-to-face survey technique with 291 people who lived in the city centre of Sivas, easily identified through sampling. The data obtained in the study first applied the Explanatory Factor Analysis and found a structure of 6 factors consisting of 35 items. These emerging factors are called Children’s Extra, Safety, Children’s Activities, Enterprise Location, Restaurant Services and General Accommodation Services. The Independent Examples T test was then used to compare these factors according to demographic variables such as gender, civil status and vacation purpose. The one-way ANOVA test was also used to compare the factors by variables such as age, education level, monthly average income, type of occupation, frequency of leave, preferred pension, facility establishment and average stay time. Factors differ according to some demographic variables, while some do not change according to them.