The life age and individual differences among consumers, especially through the level of education and socio-economic status, influence decision making. Older people can have more confidence in the decision-making process, rely on knowledge and experience, which reduces the ability to apply strategy models, De Bruin and associates conclude after respondents aged 18-88, solved seven set tasks (De Bruin, Parker & Fishhoff, 2007: 938-956). Cognitive weaknesses or prejudices can have a significant impact on the quality of decision-making. Cognitive bias is a form of observation-based and generalization-based thinking, which may be a mistake in memory, followed by a misinterpretation by which decisions are made (West, Toplak & Stanovich, 2008: 930-941).
Some events can fundamentally change the financial status of potential tourists and thus make a direct impact on the fundamental question: to travel or not? Career progress, a paid job placement can further generate the need for buying an attractive tourist product. On the other hand, a worse place of work or even a job loss directly reflects on the change in the planned journey. Late winnings or sudden succession can also substantially alter the purchasing power of consumers and boost the desire for a tourist trip.
There are numerous variables that have a greater or lesser impact on deciding on buying a tourist product. From the consumer's point of view, someone who needs to make the final decision on the journey and takes responsibility for the personal, and security of the members of his family, would add to the security aspect. Namely, numerous world attractions are on the territory where bursts of internal turmoil or terrorist attacks are taking place. A particularly dangerous variant of terrorism is random or random terrorism. The largest number of victims are innocent passers-by, which is the main goal of the action, as it causes the feeling of general insecurity and panic. Therefore, safety and security, not just the destination but also the transfer to the destination, become increasingly influential factors in the process of assessing and selecting the tourist product.
2.3. Characteristics of the decision-making process about buying a tourist product
2.3.1. Phases of the decision-making process
The complexity of traveling tourists' motivation as well as the issue of destination choice are the subject of numerous studies. The usual categorization of travel through several distinct phases has begun with a concept that breaks down this process in five phases (Clawson & Knetsch, 1966: 33-36):
Anticipation implies planning and thinking about all the necessary elements travel, when to go, how to arrive and how to stay, accommodation.
Going to the destination
Stay at the destination
Return from the trip
Commitment, fixing of impressions, forgiveness
Particular attention must be paid to the last stage, which involves returning from the journey, as an important process that feedback information links the first and the last phase. It also has to be related to the concept of contentment at the destination (Pizam, Neumann & Reichel, 1978: 314-322).
The main disadvantage of this concept is that Clawson and Knetsch do not deal with the choice of destinations, but the tourism travel phases have been upgraded to the assumption that the choice of destination choice has already been made.
The decision-making process Gunn explains the following stages (Gunn, 1972: 120):
Accumulating mental performances about the upcoming trip
Modification of acquired performances under the influence of new information
Deciding on a trip
Going to the road
Stay at the destination
Back
Re-accumulation of performance, based on experience gained.
In the first phase, a potential traveler, using various sources of information, collects different information by which a particular play is built, a picture of the destination. The performance is shaped as a result of the influence of new facts gathered during the search. The destination image is experiencing a re-transformation in the post-purchase phase of the assessment. After that, most impressions are lightly watched, time-filter passes only the most impressive experiences on which a permanent image of the destination is built.
In his opinion of the importance of building a personal show on the destination set by Gunn, Hant adds (John Hunt) with his vision. In the paper, The Performance as a Tourism Development Factor - Image as Factor in Tourism Development, states the following: "The image is probably a significant variable measured by the success of the region, but its relative magnitude compared to other factors," adds that "every year states, cities, companies, hotels and many, many others, spend millions of dollars in trying to build a picture of themselves and attract tourists "(Hunt, 1975: 1-7).
2.3.2. Decision-making form
The general form of decision-making in the Kotler purchasing process takes place through five phases (Kotler & Armstrong, 2012: 152):
Recognizing needs
Searching for information
Alternative assessment
Purchase decision
Post-buying behavior
Recognizing needs
The purchasing process begins by recognizing the need, that is, the problem that can be resolved by a specific purchase of a product or service. According to Kotler, "buying decisions are part of a much wider purchasing process that begins with the recognition of the problem, to how the buyer feels after purchasing" (Kotler & Armstrong, 2012: 152).
The need may be induced by internal stimuli, as one of the normal human physiological needs, or the result of external stimulus-stimulus. For example, seeing an advertisement with attractive pebbly beaches or talking to a friend can be an inspiration and start thinking about vacationing. At this stage, marketers need to explore and find out what kind of need is developing, what it means for consumers, and how it will bring consumers to buy a particular product.
Searching for information
A recognized and defined problem-need, introducing the customer into the second phase, which is gathering information about the subject of the purchase. Now a highly-regarded potential tourist product buyer, more attention is paid to the advertising of tourist agencies, taking more attentive and active participation in conversations with friends about their experiences with specific destinations. There is no universally applicable form for making a decision on a tourist trip, but after making a decision to take a travel trip, all potential tourists must have concrete and precise answers on the basic elements of the planned journey: the final destination, the way of transfer, accommodation and of course all included in the available budget. Generally, the consumer has several different sources available to inform about the desired product or service. Kotler includes: personal sources (family, friends, neighbors), commercial sources (advertisers, sellers, agencies, web site sales), public sources (mass media, consumer organizations, the Internet), then experiential sources, ( personal use of products/services), (Kotler & Armstrong, 2012: 153).