Choice overload on travel decisions: the paradox of variety

The diversity of available destinations and tourism services may be invaluable or paralyzing. Variety implies a better prospect of satisfying consumers’ diverse preferences. Still, an excessive assortment might harm the decision process due to choice overload. This research extends extant literature on choice overload by examining the effects of variety and the feeling of confusion on behavior. In a between-subjects experiment, we manipulated the choice set size of destinations for an international tourism trip. The results reveal the conditions for a large variety to benefit or harm the decision process, disclosing the mediation mechanism of confusion on choice overload.