Temporal Orientation and Destination Selection

This article summarizes recent findings related to temporal orientation and marketing. Differences in temporal orientation are largely between two groups: present and future. Succinctly put, future-oriented people consider the future consequences of their decisions; in contrast, present-focused individuals focus primarily on near-term benefits. This concept is widely studied, and accepted to impact perception, information processing, attitudes and behavior across several industry segments. Results of exploring this concept within a tourism context indicate a difference in destination selection between the two orientations. Authors suggest how tourism marketers may apply these preliminary findings and how future research may more fully tap this robust concept for tourism.