Loyalty Schemes

Customer/consumer loyalty is one of the most studied concepts in tourism and hospitality literature. It gained importance in the 1990s when maturing markets in the increasingly competitive marketplace became a business challenge for all industries and sectors. As the markets matured and [Page 772]competition increased in many industries and sectors, including tourism and hospitality, customer loyalty became an important business metric to be managed and studied.

The maturing markets and increasing competition channeled focus on better harnessing current and former customers rather than trying to attract new ones. Encouraging existing customers to increase the amount and frequency of purchase is expected to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of a company. This is the expected logical result of reduced costs from attracting new customers and increasing the ...