A Method For Authenticating Pleasure Travel Expenditures

This study examined the accuracy of tourists' expenditures using a form of a paired- comparison design. One member of a traveling party was randomly assigned the task of compiling a complete record of trip expenditures. A second member was asked to estimate the same expenditures on the last day of the trip. The spending recall accuracy hypotheses of the study were tested by comparirtg the actual trip expenses maintained by each recorder against the more spontaneous estimates provided by their estimating partners. Matched t-tests revealed estimators significantly underestimated overall daily expenditures. Implications for travel spending studies which depend on accurate recall are discussed.