Sampling in tourism: The length of stay bias

Tourist research heavily relies on quantitative approaches, particularly on-site surveys, to gather data on behaviour, preferences, motivations, and satisfaction. While on-site surveys offer immediate and context-specific responses, their location significantly impacts data accuracy. This study high...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Rosselló-Nadal, Jaume, Sansó-Rosselló, Andreu
Tipo de documento: artigo
Data de publicação:2025
País:España
Recursos:Conselleria de Salut i Consum del Govern de les Illes Balears
Repositório:Docusalut
Idioma:inglês
OAI Identifier:oai:dnet:docusalut___::ac65b556a3f388ca29d78eec28cdeb4d
Acesso em linha:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13003/27179
Access Level:Acceso aberto
Palavra-chave:Bias
Length of stay
Sampling
Size-biased sampling
Surveys
Descrição
Resumo:Tourist research heavily relies on quantitative approaches, particularly on-site surveys, to gather data on behaviour, preferences, motivations, and satisfaction. While on-site surveys offer immediate and context-specific responses, their location significantly impacts data accuracy. This study highlights the bias introduced when surveys are conducted at tourist attractions rather than border points, as selection probabilities vary based on tourists' lengths of stay. The research demonstrates how this bias distorts estimations of tourist behaviour. The findings challenge the validity of past studies using non-border surveys and propose correction methods. Ultimately, the study calls for a reconsideration of empirical tourism research methodologies to ensure unbiased and reliable data collection or to weigh properly the data when the sample is biased. © 2025 The Authors