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Holiday travel packaging is an important tool for destination marketing. However, little is known on how presentation of travel package information influences tourists' decisions. This article reports on an experiment that tested whether package information and package heading can influence destination choice. It is hypothesized that destinations with a less favorable image will benefit from being presented in a format with more attribute information and with a price heading. The hypotheses were tested with 200 university students and 200 United Kingdom residents. They were asked to evaluate experimentally designed beach package holidays to Mediterranean destinations. Results show that effects of package presentation format do not differ between less favorable and more favorable image destinations. Variations in package presentation format show similar effects regardless of the destination presented. The student sample shows a higher intention to visit when price is used as the package heading. Implications and avenues for future research are discussed.

This study aims to investigate how packaging can be used for destination marketing. The focus is on how bundling influences consideration and intention to visit. Most tourism researchers have ignored the fact that destination choice is actually a complex and multifaceted decision process in which destinations are selected in combination with other elements that comprise a holiday. Tourism literature also seems to assume that consideration sets are likely to be stable over time and destination marketers should try to get their destinations into the consumers' consideration sets as early as possible. The present study will investigate these assumptions by looking into the effects of holiday packaging on consideration and intention to visit. This article reviews the literature and presents the methodology and some preliminary results.