Tourist shopping experiences and satisfaction

This paper examines tourists' perceived satisfaction with local shopping culture, staff service quality, product value and reliability, physical features of shops, payment methods, and other shopping and shop attributes with special reference to the region of Cappadocia, Turkey. A survey questionnaire was designed and conducted with tourists visiting the region on a guided tour. It was found that the respondents recorded different levels of satisfaction with various attributes of shops and shopping. Based on the research results, it is suggested that providing a higher level of shopping experience for tourists and increasing the contribution of shopping to the regional economy requires supporting indigenous local people via various fiscal and educational instruments to continue producing and retailing authentic handicrafts and souvenir goods. It is believed that this not only is necessary for the achievement of higher levels of tourist satisfaction and greater economic benefits for the local economy but also for achieving the ultimate goal of sustained and sustainable tourism development. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Investigating travelers’ multi-impulse buying behavior in airport duty-free shopping for Chinese traveler: Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations

Airport duty-free shopping is becoming the most important source of revenue and profit. As airports provide a unique retailing environment that differs from the day-to-day distribution channels, observation of travelers' shopping behavior in airports shows that it is different from that in traditional retail store environments. Duty-free retailers at airports must recognize this specific shopping behavior to maximize their sales performance. We examine the relationship between two different types of impulse buying behaviors: cognitive and affective. We also study travelers' satisfaction/loyalty in the context of airport duty-free shopping using two moderators of this relationship: intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. Data were collected from outbound Chinese travelers, who represent the largest proportion of travelers worldwide, to identify implications for airport duty-free retailers. This study found a positive relationship between affective impulse buying behavior and travelers' satisfaction, an aspect that also generates loyalty in the context of airport duty-free shopping. Furthermore, travelers' extrinsic motivations moderate the negative relationship between affective impulse buying behavior and travelers' satisfaction. This study provides insights that airport duty-free retailers can utilize to motivate travelers’ consumption and enhance their satisfaction in duty-free shopping, thereby increasing consumer loyalty.     

A service position model of package tour services based on the hybrid MCDM approach

ABSTRACT

Traditionally, package tour (PT) agencies assumed that tourists only pay attention to the PT’s price, so PT service providers often offer limited package tours based on options and prices. Nowadays, PT service providers face the difficult challenge of how to offer diverse PTs to satisfy tourists’ needs based on a reasonable price. This study proposes an evaluation model of package tours based on diverse resources and transportation means. This study proposes a two-dimensional evaluation framework to analyse tourists’ needs regarding package tour services and the proposed model could be applied to plan mass customized package tours based on the portfolio of value satisfaction index (VSI) and the price satisfaction index (PSI). The study also proposes that mass customized package tours can improve the traditional tour planning method through a portfolio of diverse tourism resources. Moreover, the study integrates the different choices of traffic and transportation tools, as well as tourism resources and providers in six portfolios of package tours in the Nantou county of Taiwan. These six package tours can be planned through three traffic and transportation tools (tourist coach, railroad, and minibus) and four tourism resources (natural experiences, cultural exploration, shopping and cuisine, and event participation).     

Shopping value,tourist satisfaction and positive word of mouth: the mediating role of souvenir shopping satisfaction

We propose new insights into key satisfaction outcomes for souvenir retailers, such as positive word-of-mouth recommendations, seeking deeper comprehension of overall tourist satisfaction determinants, by analysing the mediating role of tourist souvenir shopping satisfaction. We apply variance-based structural equation modelling by means of partial least squares to a sample of 408 tourists all of whom had purchased souvenirs. The results suggest that tourist shopping satisfaction partially mediates the relation between shopping value and positive word of mouth, while tourist shopping satisfaction completely mediates the relation between shopping value and overall tourist satisfaction. The results and their implications are then discussed to arrive at pertinent conclusions on tourist souvenir shopping satisfaction.     

The Effect of Experience Quality on Perceived Value,Satisfaction, Image and Behavioral Intention of Water Park Patrons: New versus Repeat Visitors

This study proposed a conceptual model to examine how customers' perceptions of the quality of experiences influence perceived value, water park image, customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions for first‐time and repeat customers of the water park of the tourism industry. This study finds that the quality of participants' experiences significantly affects perceived value, water park image and customer satisfaction. Moreover, perceived value and water park image exert a direct influence on customer satisfaction, and they also positively affect behavioral intentions. Finally, the impacts on customer satisfaction of experience quality and water park image significantly differ between first‐time and repeat customers. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Bounded Tourism: Immigrant Politics,Consumption, and Traditions at Plaza Mexico

Conceived and owned by Korean investors, the shopping mall Plaza Mexico in Southern California embodies a unique case of invention and commodification of traditions for locally-bound immigrants and US citizens of Mexican descent, showing the force of the contemporary processes of deterritorialisation and reterritorilisation of identities and the recreations of imagined conceptions of homeland. The Plaza is a unique architectural recreation of Mexican regional and national icons that make its patrons feel ‘as if you were in Mexico’. Plaza Mexico produces a space of diasporic, bounded tourism, whereby venture capitalists opportunistically reinvent tradition within a structural context of constrained immigrant mobility. While most of the contemporary theory of tourism, travel and place emphasise the erosion of national boundaries and the fluidity of territories, the case of Plaza Mexico brings us to appreciate this phenomenon and its opposite as well – the strengthening of national borders and their impact on the (in)mobility of millions of individuals.     

Exploring the relationship between educational mismatch,earnings and job satisfaction in the tourism industry

This article analyses the interrelationship between educational mismatch, wages and job satisfaction in the Spanish tourism sector in the first years of the global economic crisis. It is shown that there is a much higher incidence of over-education among workers in the Spanish tourism sector than in the rest of the economy despite this sector recording lower educational levels. This study estimates two models to analyse the influence of the educational mismatch on wages and job satisfaction for workers in the tourism industry and for the Spanish economy as a whole. The first model shows that in the tourism sector, the wage penalty associated with over-education is approximately 10%. The second reveals that in the tourism sector the levels of satisfaction of over-educated workers are considerably lower than those corresponding to workers well assigned. With respect to the differences between tourism and the overall economy in both aspects, the wage penalty is substantially lower in the case of tourism industries and the effect of over-education on job satisfaction is very similar to that of the economy as a whole in a context where both wages and the private returns to education are considerably lower in the tourism sector.     

A model of traveller acceptance of mobile technology

With the growing popularity of mobile technology, mobile communications are becoming an important channel for tourism organisations. This study builds upon a conceptual framework that explains the factors influencing tourist acceptance of mobile devices. To represent the uniqueness of mobile technology acceptance based on an extensive literature review on user technology acceptance, this study proposes two external variables (technology experience and trip experience) and two influential determinants (perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use). These factors together determine user attitudes towards using mobile devices and, consequently, influence user intention and willingness to adopt mobile devices in the tourism context. The results of a confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling showed that trip experience and technology experience positively influenced perceived performance and perceived ease of use, and the factors positively related to travellers' attitudes towards using mobile devices and intention to use them within the tourism context. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

In search of the ‘good life’: Understanding online grocery shopping and everyday mobility as social practices

Online grocery shopping offers an alternative to everyday grocery shopping, which often requires car travel. A growing marketplace of online grocery shopping services enables distributors to control ‘the last mile’ by which products reach consumers. However, realising the energy-saving potential of online grocery shopping entails addressing several problems, as increased e-commerce does not necessarily mean decreased car use. Today, calculated potential energy savings are based on estimates and assumptions rather than on thorough knowledge of consumers and their preconditions for e-commerce. This paper is based on a survey of 19 households that regularly buy groceries online. Qualitative interviews combined with travel diaries enable discussion of the household members’ rationales, attitudes, expectations, and mobility practices. Online grocery shopping is considered here as a social practice that could contribute to a more sustainable mobility. In line with social practice theory, practices are understood as successful configurations of material, meaning, and competence that are also dependent on networks of other practices. This framing enables discussion of the likelihood that consumers will change mobility practices as an effect of online grocery shopping. The paper suggests that mobility practices results from constraining activities in everyday life, in which urban planning, norms of food and food purchasing, and the search for better quality of life are more decisive than is the practice of online shopping per se. This paper contributes empirically and theoretically to the study of mobility practices and discusses, from a user-centred perspective, the possibility of creating sustainable transport solutions.     

Tourist satisfaction with souvenir shopping: evidence from Indonesian domestic tourists

This study proposes new insight into theoretical concepts and evaluates the empirical evidence of tourist satisfaction with souvenir shopping experience and its relationship to tourist post-purchase behaviour. This study applies variance-based structural equation modelling by means of partial least squares with a sample of 192 domestic tourists in Bandung, Indonesia. The results suggest that tourist satisfaction with souvenir shopping experience is an important determinant of tourist perception on destination image and tourist loyalty toward a destination. Further, this study discloses that tourist satisfaction with store and collectability attributes are crucial factors in determining tourists’ satisfaction with souvenir shopping experience. These findings provide a better understanding for both scholars and managers of retail businesses in a tourist destination of tourist satisfaction with souvenir shopping experience and with the visit.     

Rural Tourism Partnerships and Actor Mobility

In this paper, I examine actor mobility within the context of rural tourism partnerships (RTPs). The term ‘actor’ refers to those who have a stake in tourism planning, promotion and development such as policy makers, businesses, non‐profit making sector and community groups. Mobility is embedded in personal and social histories of actors as well as the policy framework that impacts their daily lives and informs their motives for being (dis)associated with RTPs. While exploring how actors' journeys transform rural localities' socio‐economic fabric, I find the writings of Lefebvre and de Certeau particularly useful because of their focus on counter‐hegemonic practices that shape the ‘everyday life’. Given that most rural societies in current times comprise an intricate mix of long‐term residents, seasonal‐home owners and migrants, each with their distinct set of life stories and value preferences with regard to their place of dwelling, my thrust in this paper on actor mobility is likely to identify new areas of future research on RTPs. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Luxury shopping in tourism

This study explores the concept of luxury shopping behaviour in tourism and identifies the perceived importance of different types and characteristics of the luxury products and services that tourists buy on vacation, as well as the importance of various shopping venues and destinations for luxury shopping. The study examines the significant differences in luxury purchasing patterns among various types of tourists identified on the basis of the frequency of shopping and the degree of importance attached to shopping. The results show that three groups, infrequent shoppers, sometimes shoppers and frequent shoppers, as well as non‐shoppers, neutral shoppers and great shoppers, significantly differ in their luxury shopping behaviour. The implications of study results and recommendations for future studies are discussed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Shopping mode choice: Physical store shopping versus e-shopping

This study aims to explore how consumers evaluate these time attributes; i.e., the value of time, when they are facing a shopping mode choice between physical store shopping and e-shopping. For this purpose, it conducts an experiment to acquire data on respondents’ stated preference choices between physical bookstore shopping and online bookstore shopping. It is finally found that the value of delivery time for a purchased book from an online bookstore to a consumer is approximately $0.53 per day, which means an online bookstore will have to lower a book’s price by $0.53 to attract a physical bookstore shopper if the delivery is delayed for one day. It is also found that in terms of monetary values, avoiding a shopping trip produces far more benefits than bearing waiting for the delivery of books for an online purchase.     

A theoretical model of mobile augmented reality acceptance in urban heritage tourism

Latest mobile technologies have revolutionized the way people experience their environment. Recent research explored the opportunities of using augmented reality (AR) in order to enhance user experience; however, there is only limited research on users’ acceptance of AR in the tourism context. The technology acceptance model is the predominant theory for researching technology acceptance. Previous researchers used the approach of proposing external dimensions based on the secondary literature; however, they missed the opportunity to integrate context-specific dimensions. This paper therefore aims to propose an AR acceptance model in the context of urban heritage tourism. Five focus groups, with young British female tourists visiting Dublin and experiencing a mobile AR application, were conducted. The data were analysed using thematic analysis and revealed seven dimensions that should be incorporated into AR acceptance research, including information quality, system quality, costs of use, recommendations, personal innovativeness and risk as well as facilitating conditions.     

Community-Based Ecotourism Development on the Periphery of Belize

In addition to ecological interests, the sustainability debate among scholars is concerned with grassroots tourism development in terms of participatory planning and the spreading of economic benefits between more sectors of society. This paper examines these issues in the context of community-based ecotourism development on the southern periphery of Belize. The Toledo Ecotourism Association and its activities are described within the context of peripheral development and sustainability. It is argued that sustainable tourism initiatives in developing countries can be conceptualised and operationalised at a very smallscale, improve the lives of residents, provide enjoyment for tourists, and protect the natural and cultural environments. The paper also argues that peripheral locations and their characteristics can be instrumental in promoting local control of small-scale tourism.     

Profiling the segments of senior tourists throughout motivation and travel characteristics

Interest in tourism market segmentation of seniors has been increasing in recent years as the tourism industry has begun to be aware of their importance for the sector. This is a very heterogeneous group, with greater purchasing power and lifestyle-oriented entertainment and enjoyment of leisure time by performing travel than previous generations. This study strives to contribute towards the hitherto scarce research on segmentation in senior tourism. Specifically, this work aims to determine the existence of various profiles of senior tourism by means of using socio-demographic variables, motivation and characteristics of travel of seniors. For this, two complementary analysis techniques, the nonlinear canonical correlation (OVERALS) and a two-stage cluster analysis, were used. Five market segments were identified according to the behavioural variables analysed that allow marketers to target this group in the most convenient manner and to exploit new market opportunities.     

‘Scary … but I like it!’ Young tourists' perceptions of fear on holiday

This paper explores young tourists' perceptions of fear on holiday. The work on which this paper is based is important because it sheds light on tourists' emotional experiences on holiday, which are central to increase our understanding of tourist behaviour. The importance of investigating perceptions of fear has been recognized within a number of different disciplines, such as psychology, sociology, criminology, and marketing. Indeed, it has been argued that fear may provide significant information concerning an individual's motivations, preferences, and patterns of behaviour. Despite this, perceptions of fear within the tourism experience have remained relatively unexplored. It is often assumed that perceptions of safety and security may influence individuals' destination choice. However, there is a paucity of studies concerning tourists' perceptions of fear during the tourism experience. This paper is based on three months of qualitative fieldwork conducted on the island of Ios, Greece in the summer of 2007. More specifically, participant observation and semi-structured interviews were methods employed for data collection to explore young tourists' perceptions of fear. The possibility to develop a rapport and build a relationship with young tourists on Ios was crucial to collect valuable information concerning tourists' background, their emotions, expectations, perceptions, and the context in which perceptions of fear were experienced and expressed. The study found that most holidaymakers on Ios participated in activities perceived as risky in order to experience fear. In this respect, young tourists deliberately sought fear and thrill to increase their levels of pleasure and enjoyment during the tourism experience. The results suggest that fear may play a positive role in the tourism experience of young tourists, which should no longer be ignored by tourism scholars.     

Tourist Word of Mouth and Revisit Intentions to Rural Tourism Destinations: a Case of North Dakota,USA

Destination managers in rural states, like North Dakota, understand the benefits of tourism and, thus, the importance of studying visitors' intentions. This study investigated visitors' perceptions of destination image, value and satisfaction and those variables’ relationship with future behaviors, with a specific focus on their intent to return and make recommendations to others. The results showed that destination image directly affects visitors' perception of value and revisit intentions, and it indirectly affects satisfaction and recommendation intentions. The results also demonstrate how tourism practitioners can apply past models to their destination. The overall findings support the concept that a positive image is important to attracting repeat visitors. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Beyond the journey: the lasting impact of culinary tourism activities

In general, food tourism research has focused on tourist behaviour prior to or during trips, as well as food tourism development and marketing from a destination perspective. This exploratory study investigates food tourism from a broader context to determine if food tourism activities may impact attitudes and future behaviours. Data from a nine-country survey indicate that food activities likely impact trip satisfaction and influence intention to return and likelihood to recommend a destination. Food experiences are connected with memory, and these food experiences and souvenirs may influence destination image and lead to future purchases. Suggestions are provided for further research.     

The invention of shopping tourism. The discursive repositioning of landscape in an Italian retail-led case

Under the label of ‘shopping tour’, tour operators currently offer package tours which aim to highlight for the visitor the commercial appeal of a particular location. A variety of destinations are suitable for tours with such a label. In this context, certain ‘shopping tourism’ destinations simply consist of areas where the concentration of corporation-led retail venues is high. The Novese Area, in the northwest of Italy, has been transforming into such a destination since the opening of the Serravalle Designer Outlet, an outlet ‘village’ which opened in 2000. This paper reports on original research aimed at enquiring about shifts in the representation of the landscape of this area as it is shown in the discourses of local political and business actors. It is argued that this case study portrays a rather unique case of late western urban regeneration practice through which a formal industrial area is turned into a consumption site suitable for tourism. Here, the repositioning process not only influences local planning policies, but feeds – and is fed by – a simultaneous process of consumption normalization.