Tourism Management 50 (2015) 194e203

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Tourism Management
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tourman

Effective promotions for membership subscriptions and renewals

to tourist attractions: Discount vs. bonus
Jaemun Byun 1, SooCheong (Shawn) Jang*
School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Purdue University, Marriott Hall, 900 W. State Street, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA

h i g h l i g h t s

We investigated the effective promotions for tourist attraction membership.

Bonus was more effective than discount for new membership subscriptions.

Tourists who had previously renewed memberships did not distinguish between discount and bonus for renewal promotions.

Tourists who had never renewed memberships preferred bonus at hedonic attractions but discount at utilitarian attractions.

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 15 September 2014
Accepted 4 February 2015
Available online 24 February 2015

Tourist attractions actively promote membership subscriptions and renewals. Although discount promotions are commonly utilized in practice, the literature review suggested that bonus promotions, such
as an extra three months, could be more effective. Two experiments were conducted to identify
effective promotions for membership subscriptions and renewals. Bonus promotions were found to be
more effective than discount promotions at generating more positive tourist attitudes and behavioral
intentions toward new subscriptions. In contrast, neither bonus nor discount renewal promotions were
more effective for tourists who had previously renewed membership. However, tourists who had never
renewed memberships to utilitarian attractions, such as botanic gardens, preferred discount promotions,
whereas tourists who had never renewed membership to hedonic attractions, such as theme parks,
preferred bonus promotions. This implies that attraction managers should offer tailored promotions to
encourage membership subscriptions and renewals.
2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Tourist attraction
Membership
Subscription
Renewal
Promotion
Discount
Bonus

1. Introduction
Tourist attractions, such as theme parks, museums, botanic
gardens, and aquariums, are one of the most crucial businesses in
tourism (Leask, 2010; Swarbrooke, 2001). There were more than
400 theme parks and similar attractions in the United States with
approximately 290 million annual visitors in 2010 (International
Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, 2012). Even
though each tourist attraction provides diverse services ranging
from entertainment, food, and beverages to hotels, shopping, and
education, admission fees are their single largest source of income.

* Corresponding author. Tel.: 1 765 496 3610; fax: 1 765 494 0327.
E-mail addresses: byun9@purdue.edu (J. Byun), jang12@purdue.edu (S. Jang).
1
Tel.: 1 765 631 4093.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2015.02.002
0261-5177/ 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

In fact, admission fees account for approximately half of tourist

attractions' total revenues (Milman & Kaak, 2013).
Admission fees are generally collected in two forms: tickets and
membership. A ticket allows a visitor to access the attraction a
certain number of times, commonly once, whereas a membership
allows unlimited access during a certain period of time, usually a
year. Even though most tourist attractions utilize both forms, the
price of an annual membership is generally only 3e7 times more
expensive than that of a daily ticket. This can thus add up to a huge
discount considering the number of possible admissions.
Membership plays an important role for tourist attractions. It
promotes more frequent visits by members and, accordingly,
contributes to cross-sales by restaurants and retail shops. Membership also helps tourist attractions optimize the number of daily
visitors, which allows facilities (e.g., rides or shows) to efciently
operate and manage stafng. Financial stability can also be

J. Byun, S. Jang / Tourism Management 50 (2015) 194e203

195

strengthened by collecting membership fees upfront. In sum, successfully managing membership is benecial for tourist attractions.
Tourist attractions actively promote both membership subscriptions and renewals. They often provide additional benets for
members, such as free parking, designated entrances, or free
magazines. Further, membership fee discount promotions are
commonly witnessed at many tourist attractions. For example, Six
Flags offered a New Year's promotion with a 46% discount on its
season passes (Six Flags Magic Mountain, 2014). Likewise, Walt
Disney World provided a 15% discount for annual pass renewals,
Universal Studios Hollywood offered an 11% discount, and LEGO
Land offered a 25% discount (from LEGO Land, 2014; Universal
Studios Hollywood, 2014; Walt Disney World, 2014).
While discount promotions are popular with tourist attractions,
bonus promotions, such as an extra free three months, are also
commonly utilized in other industries, such as cable TV, Internet
services, rental businesses, magazines and newspapers. Further,
among tourist attractions, SeaWorld started to offer a bonus promotion for its annual pass e Buy 1 Year and Get the 2 nd Year
Free! (SeaWorld, 2014). The attractiveness of discount and bonus
promotions might appear similar when the associated benets and
costs are the same. For example, a 10% price discount promotion
seems more or less similar to a 10% quantity bonus promotion in
terms of savings and costs. However, the extant research in marketing indicates that the effectiveness of such promotions can differ
based on product type and customer characteristics (e.g., Diamond,
1992; Diamond & Campbell, 1989; Hardesty & Bearden, 2003;
Kamins, Folkes, & Fedorikhin, 2009; Mishra & Mishra, 2011).
There is little empirical evidence on the effectiveness of discount promotions, which have conventionally been used by tourist
attractions. In general, there are few studies on marketing or promotions for tourist attractions (Leask, 2010). This study intends to
ll this gap by investigating the effectiveness of membership fee
discount promotions on customers' attitudes and behavioral intentions in comparison with extra membership period bonus promotions. This study will help tourist attractions to identify
appropriate promotions to attract new visitors and maintain current members. Managers of tourist attractions can offer tailored
promotions for their visitors and members.
To achieve these objectives, this study rst reviewed the literature to identify diverse factors that might inuence customers'
preferences between the two types of promotions (i.e., discount and
bonus). Then, hypotheses on effective promotions for tourist attractions were developed by applying the above factors to both
membership subscriptions and renewals. Two experimental designs employing the survey method, one examining new member
subscriptions and the other focusing on renewals, were used to test
the hypotheses. Finally, the results of the ANOVA analysis and the
implications were discussed.

as product stack-ability or customers' familiarity with the product

(e.g., Hardesty & Bearden, 2003; Mishra & Mishra, 2011; Ong, Ho, &
Tripp, 1997; Smith & Sinha, 2000). Thus, some customers may
prefer discount promotions rather than bonus promotions.
Section 2.1 below investigates diverse factors that inuence
customers' preferences between discount and bonus promotions.
Then, these factors are applied to identify effective promotions for
membership subscriptions and renewals in Section 2.2.

2. Literature review

Table 1
Moderators on preference toward bonus vs. discount promotion.

Prospect theory (Kahneman & Tversky, 1979, 1984; Tversky &

Kahneman, 1992) is the theoretical foundation for the argument
that bonus promotions are preferred over discount promotions
(e.g., Chandran & Morwitz, 2006; Diamond, 1992; Diamond &
Sanyal, 1990). Prospect theory describes decision making under
risks and indicates that choosing between risky alternatives is
inuenced by how the choices are framed. The option framed as a
gain is perceived as better than an alternative framed as reduced
losses (Kahneman & Tversky, 1979, 1984; Tversky & Kahneman,
1992). Prospect theory has been widely conrmed in diverse situations (Diamond & Sanyal, 1990; Thaler, 1985). On the other hand,
researchers have also argued that customers' preferences toward
discount or bonus promotions can be affected by other factors, such

2.1. Preferences between discount and bonus promotions

Customers generally prefer bonus promotions rather than discount promotions. First, Diamond and Sanyal (1990) claimed that
bonus promotions are preferred based on prospect theory
(Kahneman & Tversky, 1979, 1984; Tversky & Kahneman, 1992)
because customers tend to consider a quantity bonus as an extra
gain but a price discount as reduced losses (refer to Diamond, 1992
as well). Second, Chandran and Morwitz (2006) argued that bonus
promotions are preferred because a quantity bonus is viewed as
free from negative contextual information such as quality issues.
Their experiment showed that free shipping yields signicantly
higher purchase intentions for used books than price discount
promotions, even when both offers amount to the same economic
benets (Chandran & Morwitz, 2006). Lastly, Chen, Marmorstein,
Tsiros, and Rao (2012) argued that bonus promotions are
preferred because customers do not pay much attention to the base
value of a product or service and, consequently, prefer the nominally higher percentage of the bonus promotion rather than the
lower percentage of the economically equivalent price discount
promotion. For example, a 50% bonus promotion was considered as
superior to a 35% price discount promotion even though they were
similar in terms of dollar per unit value (i.e., $1.0@1.5 for bonus vs.
$0.65@1.0 for discount) (Chen et al., 2012).
However, researchers have also identied several circumstances
where customers' preferences can be moderated in favor of discount promotions. The ndings on these moderators are summarized in Table 1. First, Smith and Sinha (2000) found that customers
prefer price discounts for expensive products but bonus promotions for inexpensive products (refer to Chen et al., 2012 as well).
For example, when the price is high, a 33% off promotion is
signicantly preferred over a 33% more promotion (Chen et al.,
2012). Second, Smith and Sinha (2000) also claimed that price
discounts are generally preferred for non-stackable goods, such as
perishables. For example, their experiment (Smith & Sinha, 2000)
found that a discount promotion is more effective for bread and
cheese than bath tissue and detergent. Third, Mishra and Mishra
(2011) found that a price discount is more effective for vice foods,
such as chocolate chip cookies, while a bonus pack is more effective

Category

Product

Moderator
Type

Level/Condition

Price

High
Low
High
Low
Vice Goods
Virtue Goods
High
Low
High
Low
Large
Small

Stack-ability
Guilty Feeling
Customer

Familiarity with
products and services
Usage Frequency

Promotion

Size of Promotion

Preference toward
promotion
Discount
Bonus
Bonus
Discount
Discount
Bonus
Bonus/Indifferent
Discount
Bonus
Discount
Discount
Bonus/Indifferent

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J. Byun, S. Jang / Tourism Management 50 (2015) 194e203

for virtue foods, such as fruit salad. To explain this phenomenon,

they argued that a discount promotion makes it easier for customers to justify the consumption of vice goods by alleviating
associated feelings of guilt. In contrast, consumers are willing to
consume more virtue goods with a bonus promotion because it is
considered an extra benet with no associated psychological conict or guilt (Mishra & Mishra, 2011). Fourth, Chen et al. (2012)
found that customers prefer discount promotions for unfamiliar
products whereas they are indifferent regarding the type of promotion for familiar products. In their experiment (Chen et al.,
2012), participants showed greater preferences toward discount
promotions rather than bonus promotions for new coffee brands.
Yet, they did not distinguish between the two types of promotions
for familiar coffee brands. Fifth, Ong et al. (1997) claimed that usage
frequency acts as a moderator. Light users prefer discount promotions, while heavy users prefer bonus promotions. In their
experiment, light users showed stronger preferences toward discounted lotion than extra free lotion, compared with heavy users
(Ong et al., 1997). Lastly, Hardesty and Bearden (2003) argued that
customers prefer discount promotions when the size of the promotion is large. For instance, when a promotion level is high (e.g.,
50%) customers evaluate a price discount more favorably than a
quantity bonus, whereas they tend to be indifferent when a promotion levels is moderate (e.g., 25%) (Hardesty & Bearden, 2003).
2.2. Tourist attractions and promotion preferences
Even though tourist attractions are dened slightly differently
by various researchers (Hede & Hall, 2006; Hu & Wall, 2005; Leask,
2010; Pearce, 1991), it is generally accepted that they include theme
parks or amusement parks, museums and galleries, natural landscapes, heritage sites, religious sites, cultural and industrial visitor
centers, and animal facilities (Leask, 2010). Most tourist attractions
are regarded as services for hedonic consumption (Milman, 2001)
and utilize similar business models and marketing strategies as
commercial products and services. By analyzing whether the
moderators in Table 1 can be applied to membership promotions
for tourist attractions, this study developed the following
hypotheses.
There appear to be no moderators that favor discount promotions for new membership subscriptions, as summarized in
Table 2. (1) Even though the absolute price of the membership may
be expensive, the relative price compared with a daily ticket would
still be considered moderate or inexpensive. For example, although
the price of Walt Disney World's annual pass is around $630, it is
only around 2.3 times more expensive than a 3-day ticket and 6.4
times more expensive than a daily ticket (Walt Disney World, 2014).
It is likely that tourists who consider a membership will recognize
that the price per visit is much less expensive than a daily pass and

therefore prefer a bonus promotion. (2) The high stack-ability of

membership works in favor of bonus promotions as well. (3)
Tourists are not likely to feel guilty because the feeling of guilt
which results from violating one's own moral and internal standards, such as wasting time or money, will not occur (Burnett &
Lunsford, 1994). Rather, members may feel guiltless because they
can spend more time with their family (Burnett & Lunsford, 1994),
which usually serves as the main guest unit for tourist attractions
(Milman, 2001). However, it is still possible that members of
extremely hedonic tourist attractions, such as theme parks with
extreme rides, might feel guilty because hedonic consumption is
commonly associated with guilt (Dhar & Wertenbroch, 2000). Thus,
this paper classied tourist attractions into relatively hedonic and
utilitarian tourist attractions to conrm the moderating effect of
guilt. (4) It is reasonable to assume that individuals who consider
purchasing a membership are familiar with a tourist attraction
enough to prefer a bonus promotion or not distinguish between the
two promotions. (5) It would be reasonable to assume that individuals considering a membership expect to visit the attraction
frequently enough to prefer a bonus promotion. Otherwise, they
would not subscribe to a membership. (6) Membership promotions
for tourist attractions generally range from 10% to 25% bonus or
discount, which is a small or moderate size. This suggests that
tourists would prefer a bonus promotion (Hardesty & Bearden,
2003). In sum, almost all of the moderators indicate that tourists
would show positive attitudes toward bonus promotions. Greater
positive attitudes toward bonus promotions are expected to lead to
stronger subscription intentions and recommendation intentions
(Ajzen, 1985). Therefore, the following specic hypotheses are
proposed:
H1. Bonus promotions are more effective than discount promotions
in inducing positive attitudes (H1-1), subscriptions intentions (H1-2)
and recommendation intentions (H1-3) for new membership subscriptions to tourist attractions; whereas
H2. discount promotions are more effective than bonus promotions
in inducing positive attitudes (H2-1), subscriptions intentions (H2-2)
and recommendation intentions (H2-3) for extremely hedonic tourist
attractions.
In the case of membership renewal promotions, usage frequency would act as a moderator in favor of discount promotions
for tourists who realize they visit infrequently. The other conditions
of the moderators remain more or less unchanged, as summarized
in Table 2. (1) Annual or seasonal membership prices are not expected to change much, although economic or strategic conditions
might require a slight price increase or decrease. Thus, there is no
reason to assume preferences toward a bonus promotion will
change. (2) The high stack-ability of memberships will continue to
work in favor of bonus promotions as well. (3) It is unlikely that

Table 2
Rationales for hypotheses development.
No.

Potential
Moderator

(1)
(2)
(3)

Price
Stack-ability
Guilty Feeling

(4)
(5)

Familiarity
Expected Usage
Frequency
Size of Promotion

(6)

Membership promotion
New subscription

Renewal

Level of Moderator

Preference toward promotion

Level of Moderator

Preference toward promotion

(Relatively) Low
Very High
Low
Can be high in extremely
hedonic tourist attractions
Moderate or High
High

Bonus
Bonus
Bonus
Discount

Bonus
Bonus
Bonus
Discount

Bonus/Indifferent
Bonus

(Relatively) Low
Very High
Low
Can be high in extremely
hedonic tourist attractions
High
High or Low

Bonus/Indifferent
Bonus/Discount

Small or Moderate

Bonus/Indifferent

Small or Moderate

Bonus/Indifferent

J. Byun, S. Jang / Tourism Management 50 (2015) 194e203

tourists would suddenly feel guilty about membership renewals

because they can spend more time with their family without
violating their moral standards (Burnett & Lunsford, 1994). In
contrast, it is likely that members of extremely hedonic tourist
attractions would continue to feel guilty regarding their hedonic
consumption (Dhar & Wertenbroch, 2000). (4) Tourists' familiarity
with the tourist attraction would be enhanced and their preference
toward bonus promotions would continue. (5) It is plausible that
some tourists would realize that they do not visit the tourist
attraction as frequently as they originally expected. Indeed, this is
one of the most commonly cited reasons for not purchasing or
renewing tourist attraction membership. For example, for tourists
who visit Walt Disney World no more than 6 days a year it is
economically more reasonable to purchase daily tickets. Therefore,
individuals who realize they infrequently use the membership will
not renew it. Further, they will prefer a membership fee discount
promotion because the extra membership period would not really
matter to them since they would not benet from it. On the other
hand, tourists who use their membership frequently are likely to
renew the membership and continue to prefer a bonus promotion.
(6) The size of most renewal promotions is generally small or
moderate enough for tourists to continue to prefer a bonus promotion. In conclusion, almost all of the moderators continue to
encourage tourists to show greater positive attitudes, and consequently stronger renewal and recommendation intentions, toward
bonus promotions. However, usage frequency would act as a
moderator for tourists who choose not to renew a membership due
to infrequent usage. They would show greater positive attitudes
and stronger renewal and recommendation intentions toward
discount promotions. The specic hypotheses are proposed as
follows:
H3. Bonus promotions are more effective than discount promotions
in inducing positive attitudes (H3-1), renewals intentions (H3-2) and
recommendation intentions (H3-3) for membership renewals; whereas
H4. discount promotions are more effective than bonus promotions
in inducing positive attitudes (H4-1), renewals intentions (H4-2), and
recommendation intentions (H4-3) for membership renewals for
tourists who choose not to renew their membership.
H5. Discount promotions are more effective than bonus promotions
in inducing positive attitudes (H5-1), renewals intentions (H5-2), and
recommendation intentions (H5-3) for membership renewals to
extremely hedonic tourist attractions.

3. Methods
This study employed an experiment with a tourist attraction and
promotion between-subject design to analyze new subscription
promotions: Study 1e2 (attraction: hedonic vs. utilitarian)  2
(promotion: discount vs. bonus). The survey questionnaire rst
asked participants to imagine that they were considering subscribing to a membership at either a theme park or a botanic garden. Only respondents who have never subscribed to membership
of tourist attractions were recruited and randomly assigned to one
of the four promotions, as presented in the Appendix: (1) theme
park and discount promotion, (2) theme park and bonus promotion, (3) botanic garden and discount promotion, and (4) botanic
garden and bonus promotion. Then, they answered questions about
their attitudes and behavioral intentions toward the assigned
promotion.
Next, this study employed a three-way ANOVA experiment
including a tourist attraction, renewal experience, and promotion
between-subject design to analyze renewal promotions: Study 2e2

197

(attraction: hedonic vs. utilitarian)  2 (renewal: ever vs. never)  2

(promotion: discount vs. bonus). The survey recruited respondents
who have previously subscribed to membership at either a theme
park or botanic garden. The tourist attraction was assigned according to participants' previous membership. For example, individuals who had been a member of a theme park were randomly
assigned to either the discount or bonus promotion for membership renewal at a theme park. They were asked to remember their
experience with a previous membership and imagine that they had
seen the renewal promotion included in the Appendix. Then, they
answered the same questions included in the new subscription
promotion survey. In addition, they were asked whether they had
ever renewed their real membership. A manipulation question was
included to verify whether members of theme parks and botanic
gardens as groups were similar in terms of satisfaction.
Since this study employed random assignment experimental
design, which facilitates causal inference (Shadish, Cook, &
Campbell, 2002), the validity of the experiment is established.
The advertisements as a treatment were designed to reect realistic
and plausible promotions as seen in the Appendix. Further, alternative plausible explanations for differences in travelers' attitudes
and behavioral intentions, such as satisfaction with previous experiences at each tourist attraction and the plausibility and credibility of the promotions, were also examined. The reliability of the
measures was conrmed with Cronbach's alphas. In addition, the
reliability of the tourist attractions selection (i.e., theme park and
botanic garden) was conrmed with the hedonic/utilitarian attribute manipulation questions.
3.1. Tourist attraction selection
Through a panel discussion including industry experts and
tourism professors, a theme park was selected as a hedonic tourist
attraction, whereas a botanic garden was selected for a utilitarian
tourist attraction. They represent not only hedonic or utilitarian
tourist attractions but also major tourist attractions in terms of
market size and number of visitors (Dong & Siu, 2013; International
Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, 2012). Each survey included manipulation questions regarding the hedonic or
utilitarian attributes of the assigned tourist attraction.
3.2. Promotion design
Two promotional advertisements were created for each tourist
attraction: theme park and botanic garden. The advertisements
differ only in terms of the promotion. A 15% discount rate and two
extra months of bonus were employed. Monthly membership fees
for both promotions are more or less economically equivalent. For
example, when the regular membership fee is $100 a year, the price
per month for discount and bonus promotions is 7.08 ($85@12)
and 7.14 ($100@14), respectively. In addition, it was deliberately
stated that two extra months are equivalent to a 15% price discount
in the bonus promotion advertisement. The percentage term of the
bonus promotion, 16.7% (2 months/12 months), was not stated to
prevent preferences for a nominally higher percentage (Chen et al.,
2012). The nal promotional advertisements are provided in the
Appendix.
3.3. Data collection
For data collection, two separate nationwide web-based surveys
were conducted by an online research rm. The rst survey was
randomly distributed to its survey panels who had never subscribed to a membership for a tourist attraction in the United States.
Respondents were randomly assigned to one of the four

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J. Byun, S. Jang / Tourism Management 50 (2015) 194e203

promotions. After eliminating unusable responses, 165 out of 186

returned responses were used for analysis. Next, a second survey
was distributed to individuals who have been a member of either a
theme park or a botanic garden in the United States. They were
randomly assigned to one of the discount or bonus promotions for
the tourist attraction they had previously subscribed to. A total of
222 responses were collected, and after eliminating 13 unusable
responses 209 responses were used for analysis.
3.4. Variables and measures
The questionnaire for the new subscription promotion survey
consisted of three sections. The rst section assessed attitudes and
behavioral intentions. To assess attitudes toward the promotion,
the most frequently cited 8-item, 7-point Likert bipolar scales (e.g.,
bad/good, dislike/like, negative/positive, unfavorable/favorable,
unpleasant/pleasant, undesirable/desirable, awful/nice, and ineffective/effective) were employed. Next, behavioral intentions were
assessed based on subscription intentions and willingness to
recommend. Frequently cited scales were adopted with modications for the current experiment setting. Subscription intentions
were measured by four statements on a 7-point Likert scale: I
would like/am willing to subscribe to an annual pass (or membership), If everything goes as I think, I plan to subscribe to an
annual pass in the future, and I will make an effort to subscribe to
an annual pass. Recommendation intentions were measured by
the following two statements: I would like to recommend subscribing to an annual pass to others and I would like to spread
positive things about this subscription policy to others.
The second section included several questions to conrm the
manipulation and identify potential moderators. First, the hedonic/
utilitarian attributes of theme parks and botanic gardens were each
measured with 6 item, 7-point Likert scales (e.g., pleasant, exciting,
and fun for hedonic attributes vs. practical, useful, and valuable for
utilitarian attributes). The scales were adopted from a previous
study on the hedonic and utilitarian meanings of tourism attractions by Snepenger, Murphy, Snepenger, and Anderson (2004).
Second, guilt as a potential moderator was measured with 3 item,
7-point Likert scales adopted from previous studies (Basil, Ridgway,
& Basil, 2008; Burnett & Lunsford, 1994; Mishra & Mishra, 2011): I
would feel guilty if I subscribed to an annual pass (or membership), If I subscribe to an annual pass, I will feel guilty that I might
spend more time there, and It will cost me a regretful amount of
money to subscribe to an annual pass. Finally, participants were
asked to rate the plausibility of the promotions with 3 item, 7-point
Likert scales (Drolet, Williams, & Lau-Gesk, 2007): This promotion
is believable/realistic/credible. The last section included questions
about demographic information such as gender, age, race, education, and marital status.
The renewal promotion survey included all of the above questions with some modications for the renewal experiment setting.
For instance, the items for renewal intentions were revised as follows: I would like to renew the annual pass (or membership). In
addition, satisfaction with the previous membership experience
, Andreu, &
was measured with 3 item, 7-point Likert scales (Bigne
Gnoth, 2005) (e.g., I am satised with my decision to subscribe to the
annual pass).
4. Results
4.1. Sample proles
Table 3 shows the demographic statistics of the participants in
each survey. In the survey on new subscription promotions, 51.5% of
the participants (n 85) were male and 48.5% (n 80) were female.

Table 3
Sample proles.
Variable

New subscription
promotion

Membership renewal
promotion

Frequency
(n 165)

Percentage
(%)

Frequency
(n 209)

Percentage
(%)

Gender
Male
Female

85
80

51.5
48.5

129
80

61.7
38.3

Age
19e29 years
30e39 years
40e49 years
50e59 years
Over 60 years

90
50
11
8
6

54.6
30.3
6.6
4.8
3.6

121
56
19
10
3

57.9
26.8
9.1
4.8
1.5

117
14
12
16
2
2
2

70.9
8.5
7.3
9.7
1.2
1.2
1.2

149
14
18
19
2
2
5

71.3
6.7
8.6
9.1
1.0
1.0
2.4

Education
Less than High School
High School/GED
2-year College
4-year University
Master's or above

1
44
37
68
15

0.6
26.7
22.4
41.2
9.1

58
43
96
12

27.8
20.6
45.9
5.8

Marital Status
Single, never married
Married
Divorced/Separated

99
53
13

60.0
32.1
7.9

122
78
9

58.4
37.3
4.3

Ethnicity
White/Caucasian
African American
Hispanic
Asian
Native American
Pacic Islander
Other

The participants were 32 years old on average and the majority was
Caucasian (70.9%). More than half (60.0%) were single, while a
majority of the respondents (82.7%) graduated from at least a 2-year
college. In the survey on membership renewal promotions, 61.7%
(n 129) of participants were male and 38.3% (n 80) were female,
implying that men tend to subscribe to tourist attraction
membership more than women. The participants were 31 years old
on average and 71.3% were Caucasian. 58.4% were single, and 72.3%
were graduates of a 2-year college or higher.
4.2. Results for new subscription promotions (study 1)
The results of the manipulation analysis were conrmed to be
successful as expected. The hedonic/utilitarian index, which was
computed by subtracting the mean score on the 3-item hedonic
attribute scale (Cronbach's alpha 0.88) from the mean score of the
3-item utilitarian attribute scale (Cronbach's alpha 0.92),
conrmed that theme parks and botanic gardens are viewed as
signicantly more hedonic and utilitarian, respectively (MTheme
park 1.56 vs. MBotanic Garden 0.10, t(163) 10.71, p < 0.001).
Nonetheless, no signicant differences were conrmed in terms of
feelings of guilt regarding subscriptions to theme parks or botanic
gardens (Cronbach's alpha 0.77, t(163) 0.37, p 0.71). More
importantly both mean scores were low, which (MTheme park 2.80
and MBotanic Garden 2.71) conrmed that guilt is not expected to act
as a moderator to encourage a preference toward discount promotions. Lastly, both promotions were viewed as realistic and
credible (Cronbach's alpha 0.95, MDiscount 5.27 and
MBonus 5.55), and no signicant difference was found
(t(163) 1.50, p 0.14).
After the manipulation conrmation, the effects of discount and
bonus promotions on tourists' attitudes were examined. The results

J. Byun, S. Jang / Tourism Management 50 (2015) 194e203

Table 4
ANOVA for attitude (Study 1 e New Subscription Promotion).

Tourist attraction
Promotion
Attraction  Promotion
Error
Total

Table 6
ANOVA for recommendation intention (Study 1 e New Subscription Promotion).

Sum of squares

df

Mean squares

Sig.

1.092
8.655
0.247
239.279
249.734

1
1
1
161
164

1.092
8.655
0.247
1.486

0.735
5.824
0.166

0.393
0.017
0.684

of 2 (attraction: theme park vs. botanic garden)  2 (promotion:

discount vs. bonus) ANOVA on the mean scores of the attitude scales
(Cronbach's alpha 0.96) yielded a signicant effect only for the
promotion (F(1,161) 5.82, p < 0.05). As expected, participants
showed greater positive attitudes toward the bonus promotion
than the discount promotion (MDiscount 4.70 vs. MBonus 5.17). In
other words, the result conrmed that potential moderators, such
as price and familiarity, favor discount promotions. Therefore, H1-1
is supported. Likewise, no interaction effect was conrmed for the
inuence of guilt, even for extremely hedonic tourist attractions.
Therefore, H2-1 is not supported. The statistical details are listed in
Table 4.
Next, the effects of discount and bonus promotions on tourists'
behavioral intentions were examined. The result of another ANOVA
on the mean scores of the subscription intention scales (Cronbach's
alpha 0.97) also yielded a signicant main effect only for the
promotion (F(1,161) 4.39, p < 0.05). Participants showed greater
subscription intentions toward the bonus promotion than the discount promotion (MDiscount 3.10 vs. MBonus 3.68). Likewise, the
result of the mean scores for the recommendation intention scales
(Cronbach's alpha 0.96) revealed a signicant main effect for the
promotion (F(1,161) 5.39, p < 0.05). Participants showed greater
recommendation intentions toward the bonus promotion than the
discount promotion (MDiscount 3.54 vs. MBonus 4.17). The relatively low scores for the subscription and recommendation intentions are understandable because only individuals who had
never subscribed to a membership before were recruited for this
survey. Nonetheless, both subscription and recommendation intentions were signicantly stronger for the bonus promotion.
Therefore, H1-2 and H1-3 are supported. The lack of an interaction
effect also conrmed the previous nding that feelings of guilt are
not inuential, even for extremely hedonic tourist attractions.
Therefore, H2-2 and H2-3 are not supported. The statistical details
are listed in Tables 5 and 6.
4.3. Results for membership renewal promotions (study 2)
The results of the manipulation analyses for the renewal promotions somewhat differed from those for the new subscription
promotions. First, the hedonic/utilitarian attribute index (Cronbach's alpha for hedonic attribute scales 0.91 and utilitarian attribute scales 0.88) conrmed that theme parks and botanic gardens
are viewed as signicantly different from each other
(t(163) 5.60, p < 0.001). However, both were considered relatively hedonic rather than utilitarian (MTheme park 1.42 and
MBotanic Garden 0.29), unlike in previous studies. Still, no
Table 5
ANOVA for subscription intention (Study 1 e New Subscription Promotion).
Sum of squares
Tourist attraction
Promotion
Attraction  Promotion
Error
Total

0.003
13.718
0.015
503.160
516.932

df
1
1
1
161
164

Mean squares
0.003
13.718
0.015
3.125

199

F
0.001
4.389
0.005

Sig.
0.975
0.038
0.945

Tourist attraction
Promotion
Attraction  Promotion
Error
Total

Sum of squares

df

Mean squares

Sig.

0.333
15.067
4.862
450.044
471.509

1
1
1
161
164

0.333
15.067
4.862
2.795

0.119
5.390
1.739

0.730
0.022
0.189

Table 7
ANOVA for attitude (Study 2 e Renewal Promotion).
Sum of squares df
Tourist attraction
6.826
Renewal
22.532
Promotion
0.049
Attraction  Renewal
0.056
Attraction  Promotion
7.780
Renewal  Promotion
1.990
Attraction  Renewal
5.679
 Promotion
Error
183.160
Total
227.963

Mean squares F
1
6.826
1 22.532
1
0.049
1
0.056
1
7.780
1
1.990
1
5.679

201
208

7.491
24.726
0.054
0.061
8.538
2.184
6.233

Sig.
0.007
0.000
0.816
0.804
0.004
0.141
0.013

0.911

signicant difference was conrmed for feelings of guilt between

theme parks and botanic gardens (Cronbach's alpha 0.87,
t(207) 0.34, p 0.73). Further, both mean scores were low (MTheme
park 2.45 vs. MBotanic Garden 2.37), which conrmed that guilty
feelings are not expected to act as a moderator that encourages a
preference toward discount promotions for membership renewals.
This implies that the hedonic attributes of tourist attractions are
not necessarily associated with feelings of guilt. Therefore, H5 (H5-1,
H5-2 and H5-3) is not supported. The result of the analysis on
satisfaction with a previous subscription experience revealed no
signicant difference as well (Cronbach's alpha 0.93, t(207) 1.16,
p 0.25). This means that satisfaction with a membership experience is not a potential alternative explanation for different responses to the promotions in the survey. In addition, the high levels
of satisfaction (MTheme park 5.75 vs. MBotanic Garden 5.52) mean that
participants' previous experiences with both theme parks and
botanic gardens were generally pleasant and positive. This
conrmed that a difference in satisfaction between the two types of
tourist attractions is not an alternative plausible explanation,
implying that the experiment was valid and reliable. Lastly, both
promotions were viewed as similarly realistic and credible (Cronbach's alpha 0.97, MDiscount 5.81 vs. MBonus 6.00, t(163) 1.20,
p 0.23).
After the manipulation conrmation, the effects of both discount and bonus promotions on tourists' attitudes were examined.
Table 7 shows that the results of the 2 (attraction: hedonic vs.
utilitarian)  2 (renewal experience: ever vs. never)  2 (promotion:
discount vs. bonus) ANOVA on the mean scores of the attitude
scales (Cronbach's alpha 0.96) yielded a signicant main effect
for tourist attractions (F(1,201) 7.49, p < 0.01) and renewal experiences (F(1,201) 24.75, p < 0.001), a signicant two-way
interaction effect for tourist attraction  promotion
Table 8
Contrast analysis for attitude (Study 2 e Renewal Promotion).
Renewal experience

Ever
Never

Tourist attraction

Theme Park
Botanic Garden
Theme Park
Botanic Garden

Promotion
Discount

Bonus

6.105
5.781
5.205
5.586

6.366
5.910
5.786
4.469

Sig.

1.636
0.130
6.296
7.305

0.202
0.718
0.013
0.007

200

J. Byun, S. Jang / Tourism Management 50 (2015) 194e203

Table 9
ANOVA for renewal intention (Study 2 e Renewal Promotion).
Sum of squares df
Tourist attraction
7.429
Renewal
102.486
Promotion
2.282
Attraction  Renewal
0.017
Attraction  Promotion
6.221
Renewal  Promotion
0.000
Attraction  Renewal
11.486
 Promotion
Error
310.233
Total
483.923

Table 11
ANOVA for recommendation intention (Study 2 e Renewal Promotion).

Mean squares F
1
7.429
1 102.486
1
2.282
1
0.017
1
6.221
1
0.000
1
11.486

201
208

4.814
66.401
1.479
0.011
4.031
0.000
7.442

Sig.
0.029
0.000
0.225
0.917
0.046
0.996
0.007

1.543

(F(1,201) 8.54, p < 0.01), and a signicant three-way interaction

effect for tourist attraction  renewal  promotion
(F(1,201) 6.23, p < 0.05). The contrast analyses presented in
Table 8 reveal that participants who had previously renewed a
membership showed no difference in attitudes between the discount and bonus promotions for the theme park (F(1,201) 1.64,
p 0.20) or the botanic garden (F(1,201) 0.13, p 0.72). In
contrast, participants who had not previously renewed a membership showed a signicant difference in attitudes between the
theme park (F(1,201) 6.30, p < 0.05) and the botanic garden
(F(1,201) 7.31, p < 0.01). Since we hypothesized greater positive
attitudes toward the bonus promotion among those who renewed
a membership, H3-1 is not supported. However, as expected, those
who had not renewed a membership to a botanic garden showed
greater positive attitudes toward the discount promotion (MBotanic
Garden-Never Renew-Discount 5.59 vs. MBotanic Garden-Never RenewBonus 4.47). On the other hand, those who had not renewed a
membership to a theme park surprisingly showed greater positive
attitudes toward the bonus promotion than the discount promotion (MTheme park-Never Renew-Discount 5.21 vs. MTheme park-Never RenewBonus 5.79). Therefore, it is concluded that H4-1 is partially
supported.
Next, the effects of discount and bonus promotions on tourists' behavioral intentions were examined. The results of another
ANOVA on the mean scores of the renewal intention scales
(Cronbach's alpha 0.95) also yielded a signicant main effect for
tourist attraction (F(1,201) 4.81, p < 0.05) and renewal experience (F(1,201) 66.40, p < 0.001), a signicant two-way interaction effect for tourist attraction  promotion (F(1,201) 4.03,
p < 0.05), and a signicant three-way interaction effect for tourist
attraction  renewal experience  promotion (F(1,201) 7.44,
p < 0.01), as shown in Table 9. The contrast analysis revealed that
participants who had previously renewed a membership showed
no difference in renewal intentions between discount and bonus
promotions for the theme park (F(1,201) 0.15, p 0.70) or the
botanic garden (F(1,201) 0.73, p 0.39). Therefore, H3-2 is not
supported. Likewise, participants who had never previously
renewed a botanic garden membership showed no signicant
difference in renewal intentions (F(1,201) 1.76, p 0.18), even
though they showed greater positive renewal intentions toward
the discount promotion (MBotanic Garden-Non Renewal-Discount 4.31

Sum of squares df
Tourist attraction
6.309
Renewal
64.068
Promotion
0.143
Attraction  Renewal
2.258
Attraction  Promotion
17.601
Renewal  Promotion
0.232
Attraction  Renewal
7.527
 Promotion
Error
378.996
Total
481.722

Mean squares F
1
6.309
1 64.068
1
0.143
1
2.258
1 17.601
1
0.232
1
7.527

201
208

3.346
33.978
0.076
1.197
9.335
0.123
3.992

Sig.
0.069
0.000
0.783
0.275
0.003
0.726
0.047

1.886

Table 12
Contrast analysis for recommendation intention (Study 2 e Renewal Promotion).
Renewal experience

Ever

Tourist attraction

Theme Park
Botanic Garden
Theme Park
Botanic Garden

Never

Promotion
Discount

Bonus

5.302
5.375
3.864
4.344

5.682
5.278
4.986
3.187

Sig.

1.661
0.036
11.342
3.781

0.199
0.850
0.001
0.053

vs. MBotanic Garden-Non Renewal-Bonus 3.59). However, individuals

who had never renewed a theme park membership showed
signicantly different renewal intentions (F(1,201) 16.192,
p < 0.001) and, surprisingly, greater positive renewal intentions
toward the bonus promotion (MTheme park-Non Renewal-Discount 3.77
vs. MTheme park-Non Renewal-Bonus 4.99). Therefore, H4-2 is not
supported. The statistical details of the contrast analysis are listed in Table 10.
Finally, Table 11 shows that the results of the other ANOVA on
the mean scores of the recommendation intention scales (Cronbach's alpha 0.93) are similar to those for renewal intentions.
A signicant three-way interaction effect for tourist
attraction  renewal experience  promotion (F(1,201) 3.99,
p < 0.05) was again conrmed. The contrast analysis in Table 12
reveals that participants who previously renewed a membership
showed no difference in recommendation intentions between the
discount and bonus promotions for either the theme park
(F(1,201) 1.66, p 0.20) or the botanic garden (F(1,201) 0.04,
p 0.85). Therefore, H3-3 is not supported. Participants who had
never renewed a membership for a theme park showed signicantly different recommendation intentions (F(1,201) 11.34,
p < 0.001), whereas botanic garden subscribers had only marginally
different recommendation intentions (F(1,201) 3.78, p < 0.1). As
expected, participants who had never renewed a botanic garden
membership showed greater positive recommendation intentions
toward the discount promotion (MBotanic Garden-Non RenewalDiscount 4.34 vs. MBotanic Garden-Non Renewal-Bonus 3.19). On the other

Table 13
Results of hypothesis tests.
Hypotheses
Number

Table 10
Contrast analysis for renewal intention (Study 2 e Renewal Promotion).
Renewal experience

Ever
Never

Tourist attraction

Theme Park
Botanic Garden
Theme Park
Botanic Garden

Promotion

Discount

Bonus

6.012
5.396
3.773
4.313

6.144
5.792
4.986
3.594

0.147
0.731
16.192
1.785

Attitudes
(HX-1)

Behavioral intentions
Subscription/
Renewal (HX-2)

Recommendation
(HX-3)

Supported
Not supported
Not supported
Partially
supported
Not supported

Supported
Not supported
Not supported
Not supported

Supported
Not supported
Not supported
Partially
supported
Not supported

Sig.

0.702
0.394
0.000
0.183

New
subscription
Renewal

H1
H2
H3
H4
H5

Not supported

J. Byun, S. Jang / Tourism Management 50 (2015) 194e203

hand, those who had never renewed a theme park membership

showed greater positive recommendation intentions toward the
bonus promotion (MTheme park-Non Renewal-Discount 3.86 vs. MTheme
park-Non Renewal-Bonus 4.99). Therefore, H4-3 is marginally and
partially supported.
5. Conclusion
5.1. Summary and discussion
This study attempted to investigate effective promotions to
encourage membership subscriptions and renewals for tourist attractions. The results of the hypothesis tests are summarized in
Table 13.
The bonus promotion was more effective than the discount
promotion in arousing greater positive attitudes and stronger
behavioral intentions for new membership subscriptions,
whereas individuals who had previously renewed their
membership tended to show no difference in attitudes and
behavioral intentions toward the renewal promotions. On the
other hand, individuals who had never renewed a theme park
membership tended to prefer the bonus promotion, whereas
those who had never renewed a botanic garden membership
tended to prefer the discount promotion. Likewise, individuals
who had never renewed a theme park membership showed
stronger renewal and recommendation intentions toward the
bonus promotion, whereas those who had never renewed a
botanic garden membership showed stronger recommendation
intentions but no difference in renewal intentions. Finally, it was
also conrmed that feelings of guilt do not act as a moderator for
either new subscriptions or renewal promotions. The bonus
promotion was not preferred even for extremely hedonic tourist
attractions.
In the experiment on renewal promotions, individuals who
had previously renewed their membership revealed no signicant difference in attitudes or behavioral intentions between
the discount and bonus promotions. Even though this was not
hypothesized in the paper, the result conrmed previous ndings that customers are indifferent regarding the type of promotion for familiar products and services (Chen et al., 2012).
Those who have previously renewed membership would be so
familiar with the tourist attraction that they would not distinguish between the promotions as long as they could reap the
benets.
On the other hand, it is interesting that individuals who have
never renewed a membership to either a theme park or a botanic
garden showed different attitudes and behavioral intentions. The
members of botanic gardens preferred the discount promotion as
expected. It seems that they did not use the membership as often
as they initially expected and, consequently, preferred the discount promotion rather than the bonus promotion that they
might not benet from. On the contrary, members of a theme
park preferred the bonus promotion even though they had
already experienced that they might not visit the park as often as
they thought. One possible explanation may be that the hedonic
attributes of the theme park encourage members to feel rather
than think rationally about whether they can visit the park more
often than the previous year and, thus, prefer the bonus
promotion.

201

promotions. Even though the nominal rates of bonus promotions

are not revealed, participants still prefer it to discount promotions.
Second, it conrmed that the preference toward bonus promotions
over discount promotions for commercial products and services is
applicable to tourist attractions or tourism settings as well. Third,
this paper identied that the preference toward bonus promotions
can change in the case of membership renewals. Specically, discount promotions can be more effective for individuals who do
not intend to renew their memberships to relatively utilitarian
tourist attractions such as botanic gardens. In contrast, bonus
promotions continue to be more effective for individuals who do
not intend to renew their memberships to relatively hedonic tourist
attractions such as theme parks and amusement parks. Lastly, this
paper suggested that the effectiveness of a promotion can differ
according to the characteristics of tourist attractions and potential
visitors.
This study also contributes several important practical implications for attraction managers. First, managers of tourist attractions should consider utilizing bonus promotions to attract
new members, not just relying on discount promotions. Second,
managers should understand that the effectiveness of discount
and bonus promotions can differ in encouraging membership
renewals. For example, for members who did not frequently visit
the botanic garden, discount promotions would be more effective. However, for members who visited often, bonus promotions
would be more effective than discount promotions. On the other
hand, individuals who intended to renew their memberships to
both hedonic and utilitarian tourist attractions are indifferent
about the type of promotion. Third, managers should understand
the characteristics of their tourist attractions and potential visitors and try to develop tailored promotions for each group of
visitors.
5.3. Limitations and suggestions for future research
Even though this study provides important theoretical and
managerial implications, a few limitations still exist. For instance,
the online samples used in this study might not reect the
true population distributions at tourist attractions. It would
be more realistic and practical to analyze the preferences of
actual members in cooperation with actual tourist attractions next
time.
Nonetheless, this research is a pioneering study that investigated effective promotions for tourist attractions to encourage
new subscriptions and renewals from visitors' perspectives.
There are still lots of areas for further studies to contribute to the
marketing and promotions of tourist attractions. For example, a
study on how rate fencing or different pricing in both daily
tickets and membership fees inuence tourists' behaviors would
help managers develop optimal pricing policies. Research
investigating promotional strategies that appeal to individuals
who have previously renewed their memberships will also be
helpful for attraction managers because this segment of tourists
was indifferent regarding the type of promotion in this study.
Given the importance of tourist attractions in the tourism industry, continuous future research on effective management
strategies and techniques for tourist attractions will make a
meaningful contribution to both academia and the industry
alike.

5.2. Implications
Appendix
This study contributes several important and interesting theoretical implications. First, this paper conrmed previous ndings
that bonus promotions are generally more effective than discount

1. Experiment for new subscription promotion: Study 1e2

(Attraction)  2 (Promotion).

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J. Byun, S. Jang / Tourism Management 50 (2015) 194e203

2. Experiment for renewal promotion:

(Attraction)  2 (Renewal)  2 (Promotion).

Study

2e2

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Jaemun Byun, M.B.A. is Doctoral student in the School of

Hospitality and Tourism Management, Purdue University
in USA. His research interests include tourism marketing
and destination management.

SooCheong (Shawn) Jang, Ph.D. is Professor in the School

of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Purdue University in USA. His research interests are twofold: hospitality
nance/strategic management and hospitality/tourism
marketing. Dr. Jang has more than 150 published articles in
refereed top-tier HTM and business journals and has
received numerous accolades including the W. Bradford
Wiley Memorial Best Research Paper of the Year Award
2009 and the Michael D. Olsen Research Achievement Award
2015. In addition, he was recognized as the top-ranked
author in HTM academia during the past decade (Journal
of Hospitality and Tourism Research (2011), 35(3)). Dr.
Jang is frequently invited as a speaker for academic
research or interdisciplinary research by many universities
as well as international conferences.