The Visual Attention and Psychological Responses from Older Customers to Wellness Service Pictures of Hotels

Abstract

Understanding the visual attention and psychological responses of consumers to marketing pictures allows hotel managers to design more attractive advertisements. Therefore, the purposes of the present study were to use an eye-tracking analysis to explore whether there were different effects from tourist hotels’ wellness service pictures based on whether they had natural or built clues. The psychological responses with regard to perceived well-being and willingness to pay were also examined. Eighty-five older consumers were recruited. Their eye movement performance while observing marketing pictures with different visual clues and their subsequent psychological responses were measured. It was found that wellness service pictures with natural clues captured more visual attention and induced higher willingness-to-pay perceptions than those with built clues in these older consumers. The present results suggest that marketing pictures with natural clues may create positive visual responses in older customers and further enhance their purchase intention.