The Impact of Discounting Room Rates on In-House Restaurant Sales

This study investigates whether discounting hotel room rates during low seasons of demand influences in-house hotel restaurant sales in a positive way. A linear regression function was utilized to assess the relationship between discounting room rates and the hotel's in-house restaurant sales. The model summary provided results indicating that the discounting of room rates during the low season did not significantly influence in-house restaurant sales. The value of this study lies in the empirical results that may provide guidance to the revenue management practices of hotel managers.     

Environmental Impact of Ecotourism in Kibale National Park,Uganda

A study was carried out in Kibale National Park in Uganda to assess the impacts of recreation on camping sites and nature trails in the wet and dry seasons. Nine physical parameters were examined at nine camping sites and four parameters on nature trails. All camping sites experienced more or less similar degradation in the wet and dry seasons with the impact in the dry season being slightly higher. The nature trails were under moderate erosion, which was highly associated with slope and vegetation. The impacts in Kibale National Park were in many ways similar to those reported in the national parks of the UK, USA and Costa Rica. It was concluded that the impact was clearly the result of higher use frequency following the recent increase in the number of tourists to Kibale National Park. The need for an early determination of the recreation-carrying capacity as well as research on impact that incorporates visitor numbers and use frequency is recommended if ecotourism is to remain sustainable in Kibale National Park.     

Market demand variations,room capacity,and optimal hotel room rates

This short note develops an optimal hotel room rate model and proposes optimal room rate strategies in both high and low seasons. We then examine our model with the data from tourist hotels in Taipei, Taiwan. The empirical results support our model's major predictions: (1) market demand variations significantly affect the difference between high season and low season optimal room rates; and (2) hotel's room capacity negatively affect the difference between high season and low season optimal room rates, which also means that fixed costs shall negatively affect the high season optimal room rate. This result contradicts with conventional wisdom.     

基于排队论的方特欢乐世界主题公园容量研究

文章以芜湖方特欢乐世界为案例地,采用运筹学的排队理论,根据游客可忍受的最长等待时间,分别测算公园各项目的合理日容量,根据游客等待时间比例关系测算出公园合理日容量,根据旺季天数和游客量比例关系求得合理年容量,并对其结果和公园原有设计容量进行比较分析.针对公园供需矛盾和游客等待心理特征,提出实施淡旺季时间分流机制、引入项目空间疏散机制、启动项目容量调控管理库、构建排队管理网络系统等公园容量管理对策,以期为主题公园容量管理研究与实践提供借鉴.     

The effect of climate change on the fall foliage vacation in China

Fall foliage season has been a favorite time for sightseeing activity for centuries around the world. The dates of fall foliage coloration for Acer mono maxim at two stations (Beijing and Xi'an) with more than 30 years of records were collected. Time-series analysis showed a strong overall delay of the timing of the fall foliage vacation season. The trend for later fall foliage vacation season averaged 4–5 days/decade. Regression analysis revealed that the air temperature in September or October is decisive for the annual timing of the fall foliage vacation season. A warming of 1 °C led to a delayed beginning, best date and the end of fall foliage vacation of 5.3 days, 3.5 days and 3.7 days respectively. The beginning of fall foliage vacation season started to delay in the 1990s. Sudden delay in the best date of fall foliage vacation season of Beijing and Xi'an took place in the early 2000s and 1990s respectively. For the end of fall foliage vacation season, an abrupt delay occurred in the early 2000s. This has implications for tourists and the tourism industry with reference to the timing of trips and their promotion.     

The Carryover Effect of Newspaper Reports on a Mega Event: Ex Post Analysis of the 2012 Expo Yeosu Korea

This study identifies variables affecting daily attendance at the 2012 Expo Yeosu, Korea, emphasizing the role the newspapers and promotions played during the Expo. A polynomial distributed lag model is estimated to determine the factors influencing daily attendance at the Expo. Results indicate that the variables of Saturday and first and second days of holidays, peak vacation season, media, and promotions have a significant positive effect on the number of visitors to the Expo. Discounted tickets increase the average daily attendance by approximately 27,000 visitors. Newspaper reports have a positive effect on attendance; more importantly, reports show carryover effects. The positive effect on attendance of a newspaper report increases up to the fourth day from the date of publication and then starts to decline. The effect of a newspaper report stops around the eighth day from the date of publication. The findings have practical implications for managing visitors to mega events.     

Hotel characteristics and occupancy trends: Yorkshire and Humberside hotels, UK, April 1982–March 1984

This study extends the analysis of hotel occupancy in Yorkshire and Humberside, UK, hotels reported in the March 1985 issue of this journal, and confirms the ‘stability’ of the three previously identified dimensions of occupancy performance which reflect differences in overall occupancy levels, intensity of seasonal fluctuations, and length of season. The focus shifts to the identification and interpretation of longer term trends in occupancy performance. The results of a questionnaire survey of hotels are used in a stepwise regression model to relate occupancy trends to a range of ‘predictor’ variables measuring different aspects of the hotels and their management.     

Temporal Changes of Airfares Toward Fixed Departure Date

Despite the existence of numerous published articles that examined the online fares for air-tickets, no prior studies have investigated the issue of temporal changes of airfares toward a fixed departure date. In other words, consumers have no knowledge of when the best time is to purchase their lowest fared air-tickets from the Internet. This study investigated the daily changes of fares for return air-tickets on five online travel agency (OTA) websites with fixed dates of departure during shoulder and high seasons. Empirical findings showed the lowest airfares from Hong Kong to Beijing and Bangkok, representing two most popular short-haul travel destinations, were not found at the initial stage of the data collection period. In other words, consumers should not make online purchase of air-tickets too early.     

A comparison of destinations’ impacts on hotel rates

The impact of destinations’ attributes on hotel rates in different locations has been insufficiently compared the existing literature. This study sought to apply the hedonic pricing method to measure and compare how room prices are affected by factors that are both external and inherent to hotel companies. After collecting nearly all the data regarding hotel features that consumers can use to make choices about accommodations on the TripAdvisor website, different models were developed for each city and season. The results suggest that hotels in Barcelona are more dependent on external conditions than hotels in Madrid are. In addition, hotels in both cities are more affected by external conditions during the high season. This paper discusses these and other results, as well as their implications.     

The contribution of social tourism to sustainable tourism: a case study of seasonally adjusted programmes in Spain

Recent policy from the European Union has attempted to justify social tourism initiatives on the basis that they lead to a more sustainable tourism industry. However, the majority of latest research in the field has been focused on the benefits for participants, with the addition of some evidence on the economic impacts of such programmes on destinations, which have pointed towards sustainability outcomes including: a longer tourism season, more even spread of demand, and longer periods of employment for tourism workers. Yet there is a lack of direct evidence linking such programme to these outcomes. This paper aimed to explore this important disconnect between policy assumptions and evidence-based outcomes through an analysis of the deseasonalising effects of the Spanish social tourism programme for older people. The research found that this programme does have an effect on the seasonal nature of employment and economic activity in most regions studied, but that the huge volume of demand from international tourists in the high seasons masks the quantitative effects in the regions with the highest seasonal concentration of international tourists. Recommendations for policy and practice in sustainable tourism are made that are transferable to many countries and regions that adopt social tourism programmes.     

An alternate approach to modeling the slack season provision of guided tours to tourists

We discuss an approach to modeling the slack season provision of guided tours to tourists that accounts for the twin phenomena of stochastic demand and tourist heterogeneity but is different from the way in which this problem has been modeled in the extant tourism literature. Our discussion uses the theory of discrete-time Markov chains and it models the slack season from a tourist demand perspective. Specifically, we first study a case in which the wait plus tour or the excursion time of an arriving tourist is exponentially distributed with a fixed mean. Next, we focus on a scenario in which the excursion time is exponentially distributed with one of two possible fixed means and these two means arise with specific probabilities.     

Tropospheric ozone,air pollution and tourism: a case study of Mallorca

This study explores tourists’ contribution to air pollution through an analysis of tropospheric ozone levels. Although the ozone layer in the upper atmosphere is beneficial, preventing damaging ultraviolet light from reaching the Earth's surface, ozone in the lower atmosphere, known as tropospheric ozone, can damage plant species, both natural materials and manufactured goods, and can damage lung tissues in humans. Additionally, ozone in the upper troposphere exerts a considerable impact on global warming. Using the case study of Mallorca (Spain) – an isolated, intensive tourist destination in the Mediterranean – a daily indicator of tourist numbers is used in order to capture direct and induced pressure on the environment. Models based on daily data are estimated using meteorological, daily tourist numbers and other significant variables, showing how rising tourism activity in Mallorca is associated with rising daily concentrations of tropospheric ozone, created by transport, air conditioning and other activities. The estimated models make different simulations possible, showing the consequences of increasing tourism numbers during different seasons. The concluding section shows the potential to develop the models used here for other destinations.     

Using ski industry response to climatic variability to assess climate change risk: An analogue study in Eastern Canada

To accurately characterize the ski industry's risk to future climate change and varied quality of snow conditions, it is important to assess how the industry has managed and adapted to contemporary anomalously warm ski seasons. This is the first temporal climate change analogue study to use higher resolution daily performance data at the individual ski area scale, including reported snow quality, ski lift operations, slope openings, and water usage for snowmaking. The record warm winter of 2011–2012 in the Ontario ski tourism market (Eastern Canada) is representative of projected future average winter conditions under a mid-century, high greenhouse gas emissions scenario (RCP 8.5), which was compared to the 2010–2011 season which was climatically normal (for the 1981–2010 period). Supply-side impacts across the 17 ski areas during the analogue winter included a total average decrease in the ski season length (−17% days), operating ski lifts (−3%), skiable terrain (−9%), reduced snow quality (e.g., -46% days with packed powder), snowmaking days (−18%), and an increase in water usage for snowmaking (e.g., +300% in December). Demand-side impacts include a 10% decrease in overall skier visits, with a resort size-correlation (small −20%, intermediate −14%, large −8%). With reduced operational ski terrain and more frequent marginal snow conditions, visitor experience is adversely affected more frequently. Collectively, these findings identify differential impacts in the ski tourism market and can assist ski area managers, communities, investors and governments with developing climate change adaptation plans.     

Future climate change risk in the US Midwestern ski industry

Climate change is an evolving business reality in the ski industry, with recent trends toward shorter ski seasons and emerging climate risk disclosure requirements. Climate change impacts under low- to high-emission futures are examined at 99 ski areas in the American Midwest market with snowmaking. Mid-century season losses range from −25% in a low-emission scenario (SSP245), to −29% under moderate-emissions (SSP370), and − 38% with high-emissions (SSP585). Depending on demand response, utilization intensity could increase between 23 and 40% from the current 4.8 skiers/per acre-day with implications for crowding and visitor experience at ski areas still in operation. Highlighting the importance of low-emission futures, by late-century, transformational impacts in high-emission scenarios would largely eliminate this regional market. The results are compared with previous studies that neglected snowmaking as a climate risk management strategy and thereby substantially overestimated the impact of mid-century and low-emission scenarios.     

Methodological Issues in Measuring Crowding-Related Norms in Outdoor Recreation

Based on theoretical and methodological similarities between research on recreationrelated norms and contingent valuation, three methodological issues--question format, starting point bias, and information bias--are explored as they apply to measuring crowding-related norms of visitors to two national parks. Few statistically or substantively significant differences in crowding-related norms were found to be associated with these methodological issues. Study findings suggest that measures of crowding-related norms may be relatively "robust,"and this may add weight to the "validity" of the theory and methods associated with crowding-related norms in outdoor recreation.     

How do monetary and time spend explain cultural tourist satisfaction?

Tourist expenditure is studied from many perspectives, including that of the two primary types of budget—monetary and temporal—that a tourist must manage in a destination. Yet, despite the scholarly interest in tourist expenditure, no studies to date have sought to quantify how spend type affects tourist satisfaction.Since money and time are finite, it is important to understand how they contribute to tourist satisfaction. The aim of the present research is therefore to analyze how tourist behavior in a cultural destination, taking into account the real-time spending of both monetary and time budgets, contributes to satisfaction-formation. A sample of 957 touristic activities conducted in the City of Granada (Spain) was analyzed from a multilevel perspective, measuring tourist satisfaction with the activity in real time.The study identifies several factors of interest for stakeholders of cultural tourism from a new conceptual and methodological approach in tourism satisfaction studies.     

Weekly occupancy fluctuations in Yorkshire and Humberside hotels 1982–1984: patterns and prescriptions

In this article it is argued that the formulation of planning policy for tourism in general, and the hotel industry in particular, requires detailed information on the temporal characteristics of visitor flows in relation to the capacity of the industry to accommodate them. In this light, a detailed analysis is performed on weekly fluctuations in visitor flows to hotels in Yorkshire and Humberside, as revealed by daily occupancy returns in 99 hotels over the study period.Clear temporal and spatial patterns are identified and linked with differences in market orientation, between areas, between hotels and between different seasons.Stepwise regression analyses relating occupancy performance to a range of hotel characteristics confirms the importance of market orientation and identifies other correlates of weekly occupancy pattern.Finally, the marketing and planning implications of the results are discussed, and different marketing options for improved occupancy performance are outlined.     

Tracking visitors in crowded spaces using zenith images: Drones and time-lapse

The aim of this article is to analyse the extent to which zenith images can be used to study visitor behaviour in crowded spaces. The paper presents two studies of zenith image capture in two micro-spaces (both monumental heritage sites) in the north-east of Spain: the first used drone images to conduct a quantitative study on patterns of visitor use at Empúries archaeological site; and the second was a qualitative study on conflicts of use in Cathedral Square, Girona, using time-lapse photography from a fixed camera.Results of the study show that visitor behaviour at the sites does not alter in peak season when spaces become increasingly crowded.     

Reconstructing the globalisation of tourism: A geo-historical perspective

This article deals with methodological problems that emerge when trying to construct the necessary information for the reconstruction of the spatial pattern of tourist places on a global scale. A methodology in order to construct a data set on the globalisation of tourism is put forward. It reflects upon the possibility to date the emergence and reproduction of destinations at different moments since 1800. As a solution, we propose to use tourist guidebooks published since 1800 as a source, from which different elements can be extracted.     

反季旅游与旅游季节性平衡:研究述评与启示

季节性是旅游产业最重要的特征之一,对旅游业发展具有重要的影响作用。国内外学者对旅游季节性的含义、测度、成因和影响进行了大量研究,并提出了一些缓解旅游季节性的措施和方法。近年来渐渐兴起的反季旅游成为应对旅游季节性的有效措施。深刻理解反季旅游的内涵和特征,努力实现反季旅游常态化,能有效解决旅游季节性造成的产业失衡问题。但从国内外现有文献来看,有关反季旅游的研究成果却十分有限。文章的主要工作是对旅游季节性和反季旅游相关的国内外研究成果进行梳理,并进一步对反季旅游研究和开发的策略进行分析。首先,对气候与旅游方面的研究文献进行了简单回顾;其次,对旅游季节性的国内外研究成果进行了综述;然后,对反季旅游的概念和内涵进行了剖析和界定,并重点对利用反季旅游缓解季节性的研究成果进行了讨论;最后,提出了我国反季旅游开发的对策和建议。