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Dr hab. Izabela Michalska-Dudek
ORCID: 0000-0003-2804-6513

Researcher and academic teacher, head of the Department of Marketing and Tourism Management at the Faculty of Management at the Wroclaw University of Economics and Business. An author of over 80 scientific publications, coauthor of academic textbooks in the field of tourism enterprise management. Manager, main contractor and co-contractor of research projects financed by the National Science Centre, expert of the National Centre for Research and Development and the Polish Science Foundation, member of the Polish Scientific Society of Marketing, contractor of research and implementation projects in the field of tourism economy management in the region and tourism product marketing, as well as a trainer in the field of customer relationship management and e-marketing.

 
DOI: 10.33226/1231-7853.2023.9.3
JEL: D12, Z31, Z33

The main aim of the article is to identify the directions of changes in the purchase decision-making process by purchasers of package holidays offers under the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic, with particular emphasis on their loyalty. The authors requested answers to the following research questions: 1. What changes have occurred in the process of making decisions regarding the purchase of package holidays during the COVID-19 pandemic? 2. Are package travel buyers loyal to travel agencies during the COVID-19 pandemic? For the purpose of achieving the research objective and obtaining answers to research questions, a literature search was conducted, as well as field research. In the case of secondary sources, the method of content analysis was used to study them, while data from primary sources (N = 1508), collected using the indirect survey technique (CAWI), was analysed using descriptive statistics methods, selected loyalty measurement methods, i.e. the Net Promoter Score and the TRI*M index, as well as methods of multidimensional statistical analysis (cluster analysis). The conducted research confirmed that in the face of the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic, the behaviour of travel agency customers changed significantly, particularly in terms of reducing the frequency of trips and limiting them to domestic trips. In addition, although during the pandemic buyers of tourist events showed loyalty to travel agencies, the results indicate that there is still a possibility to strengthen the position of the both in the area of loyalty and satisfaction of buyers of their offers. Customers on the travel agency market in Poland can be characterized as loyal, but moderately satisfied.

Keywords: behaviour of package holiday buyers; travel agency; loyalty; COVID-19 pandemic