Post-Pandemic Influences of Personal Factors on Domestic Tourist Decision-Making: Evidence from Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh

Background and Aims: This study investigates the relationship between personal factors and the decision-making process of domestic tourists after the COVID-19 pandemic. The research highlights the significance of understanding how demographic variables such as gender, age, marital status, occupation, education level, and income influence different stages of decision-making: need recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision, and post-purchase behavior. Methodology: Employing a quantitative survey of 400 participants and analyzing data using Chi-square tests reveals income as the most consistently influential factor across all stages. Results: Results reveal that personal factors have varying degrees of influence on different stages of the decision-making process. Gender significantly affected only the evaluation of the alternatives stage. Age influenced the assessment of alternatives, purchase decisions, and post-purchase behavior. Marital status impacted the need recognition and information search stages. The education level affected needs recognition, information search, and evaluation of alternatives. Occupation influenced all stages except the purchase decision. Notably, income level emerged as the most consistently influential factor, significantly affecting all phases of the decision-making process. Conclusion: These findings contribute to understanding domestic tourist behavior in the post-pandemic context and have important implications for tourism marketing and management in Bangladesh. The findings contribute to tourism marketing and management by suggesting targeted strategies to enhance domestic tourism. However, limitations such as the study's cross-sectional nature and single-destination focus necessitate further research to generalize findings.