Optimizing the input amount to build cruise companies' direct selling channel based on consumers' choice behavior

Abstract Cruise tourism has developed rapidly in the last ten years in China. However, Chinese cruise tourism is currently encountering bottlenecks because the selling mode of travel agency chartering has become a key element in curbing its development. To solve the problem, cruise companies are trying to adjust their sales strategies to change the previous selling mode and actively expand their direct selling channels. In this paper, a programming model for optimizing the input amount to build direct selling channels is constructed, which provides a feasible method for cruise companies to determine the rational input amount to build direct selling channels. By taking potential cruise consumers in Ningbo as an example, the model is solved to output the optimized input amount of Bohai Ferry Group Co., Ltd. to establish its direct selling channels. The analysis results show that in China, cruise companies should adopt the sales mode that keeps agency selling as the main channel and direct selling as the auxiliary channel.