National Capital Branding

Abstract

This study examines the destination branding strategies of two national capitals, Canberra and Wellington. Literature on both destination branding and national capital tourism suggests that national capital status may be both beneficial and unfavourable for destination marketing. The results from personal interviews and documentary analysis point to differences between the two national capitals brands where Canberra uses national stories and symbolic concepts heavily while Wellington uses broader city/urban elements. This indicates that national stories, although an important aspect of tourism in national capitals, may also present a number of challenges, including a negative image and low consumer demand, creating practical implications for branding national capitals. The paper suggests further research is necessary to determine how national stories can be utilised in branding to develop a unique selling proposition.     

London Tourism

SUMMARY

Global tourism demand has been subject to fluctuation in recent years, and London as a tourist destination has recently had to cope with both the significant forces at play in the wider environment and radical change in the way that tourism is to be managed across the UK. The purpose of this paper is to review the post-disaster destination marketing activity conducted by London in its attempt to regain its position as a premier destination for domestic and international visitors, set within the wider context of the devolution of tourism across the country. A number of the issues arising from London's post-disaster marketing campaign are identified, and a set of guiding principles for any future such action are discussed. The paper concludes that diversification of both the product and market is necessary if London is to retain its position as one of the world's leading ‘iconic’ city destinations.     

International Business Tourism: Destination Dublin or Destination Ireland?

Abstract

The Republic of Ireland has been running the same basic brand proposition in its various marketing campaigns for some decades (Morgan, Pritchard and Pride, 2002). However, it is unclear whether the destination brand construct that has served Ireland's general tourism market so well can apply equally when attracting business tourism to Dublin, the nation's capital city. This research primarily applies repertory grid analysis and on-line focus groups to understand the brand of Dublin, the capital of Ireland, and explores the way the marketing of a national capital city for business tourism both influences, and is influenced by, the marketing of the nation itself.     

Tourism,Urban Governance and Public Space

Abstract

This paper considers the relationship between tourism development, urban governance and urban public space. It focuses on the way that ‘new urban governance’ mediates the activities and interests of mobile capital and consumption on the one hand, and the spaces of everyday life on the other which are increasingly subject to ‘urban renaissance’ strategies and spectacularizations as tourist attractions. By drawing on research undertaken in York, England, the paper illustrates the socio‐spatial issues at stake for urban centres that have used tourism and culture as major drivers of economic development. Finally, it challenges the axiomatic status of the local/tourist dualism in various tourism management discourses as being inadequate for understanding how tourism articulates with socio‐spatial mobility generally, and how this raises difficult issues in relation to urban citizenship and the governance of urban public space.     

Showcasing Scotland? A Case Study of the MTV Europe Music Awards Edinburgh03

Abstract

This paper critically reviews the public policy framework underpinning the MTV Europe Music Awards Edinburgh03. It argues that, because local organisers did not advocate local cultural participation as a key policy, preferring an economic rationale of marketing and tourism, such involvement was limited. The organisers’ global and economic rationale led to the official view that MTV’s status within global youth culture re‐imaged Edinburgh as a dynamic and cosmopolitan city in the international tourist market, while providing a turning point in Scotland’s ability to host world class events. To them, the £750k subsidy to MTV facilitated significant local economic benefits and enhanced the city’s profile in the creative industries. However, the narrow policy framework meant local inclusion took place within MTV’s overriding emphasis on promoting celebrities and producing a spectacular television show. The Awards therefore had a largely superficial engagement with local youngsters and the Scottish pop industry, with the main beneficiaries being MTV and its sponsors, Edinburgh tourism, global pop stars, and major hotels and retailers. Protests over this were encouraged by MTV’s tight control of information, the event’s politicisation by a local newspaper, and a local actor’s ‘anti‐MTV Awards’ campaign.     

International Travelers from Taiwan

Abstract

Taiwanese outbound travel market has been continuously growing but little in-depth research has investigated this market. This study uses discriminant analysis to examine Taiwanese outbound travelers whose travel philosophy is strongly oriented toward inclusive package vacations versus those who are not through their sociodemographics, travel characteristics, and benefits pursued variables. The results indicate that philosophy is a useful way to separate groups and that Taiwanese inclusive-package travelers tended to be female, older, with lower incomes, and less well educated. They usually seek a ‘Show and Tell,’ ‘Cost,’ and ‘Environment and Scenery’ benefits, spend more money on trips, and travel in larger groups. These findings can assist travel and tourism related organizations in developing packages and marketing strategies.     

“Just Trying to Keep the Customer Satisfied”

SUMMARY

The paper compares the predictive validity of six models used in the measurement of satisfaction; it is concerned with their application at destination level, with particular reference to Orlando, Florida. Using factor analysis and multiple regression, the ‘performance only’ model was clearly identified as the best predictor of satisfaction. The incorporation of ‘importance’ and ‘performance’ ratings did not improve the predictive power of the ‘performance only’ solution. From tourists' ‘performance’ ratings, five ‘dimensions’ of Orlando's tourism offering were identified: ‘primary,’ ‘secondary’ and ‘tertiary’ attractions, ‘facilitators’ and ‘transport plus.’ Notwithstanding Orlando's reputation as the world's theme park capital, Orlando's ‘secondary’ attractions (such as shopping and dining opportunities) and ‘facilitators’ (such as accommodation and customer service) were identified as having the most influence on overall tourist satisfaction with Orlando.     

Overtourism and degrowth: a social movements perspective

Abstract

Overtourism is a contemporary phenomenon, rapidly evolving and underlined by what is evidently excessive visitation to tourist destinations. This is obvious in the seemingly uncontrolled and unplanned occurrence of urban overtourism in popular destinations and arguably a consequence of unregulated capital accumulation and growth strategies heavily associated with selling cities as tourism commodities. The vested interests of social movements has converged into growing protests against overtourism and associated degrowth campaigns have emerged out of this activism that calls for alternative governance and management measures that eschew touristic monoculture and simplistic economic growth-oriented models. Accordingly, we explore the evolution of the tourism degrowth discourse among social movement activists in Barcelona, and in particular, where this is related to claims associated with overtourism and the extent to which this might be influencing a paradigm shift from ‘tourism growth’ to ‘tourism degrowth’. Methodologically, we draw from an overarching framework that leverages long-term ethnographic research in Barcelona. Here, we employ in-depth semi-structured interviews, participant observations, informal conversations and retrospective evaluation of field diary entries.     

Come Downtown & Play

Abstract

The newly anointed American cities of the late capitalist moment appear preoccupied with the reconstitution of urban space. More accurately, select parcels of urban America have been reconfigured into multifaceted sport, leisure and tourism environments designed for the purpose of encouraging consumption‐oriented capital accumulation. Within this paper, the focus is a critical exploration of the ways in which tangible and intangible forms of heritage have been employed, utilized and exploited within these urban transformations. Through focus on a city emblematic of the processes that have molded downtown cores under US capitalism – Memphis – the paper points to the role of heritage in the reconfiguration of the Memphian ‘tourist bubble’. In particular, discussion centers on the often problematic selection of histories and historical elements, forms and practices within the interests of capital space and thus raises a host of localized questions about whose collective memory is being performed in the present, whose aesthetics really count and who benefits. Conclusions address how such urban space is imbued with power relations, that is, how increasingly leisure‐oriented spaces can be seen as important sites of social struggle in which dominant power relations can be constructed, contested and reproduced.     

Investigating the effects of offline and online social capital on tourism SME performance: A mixed-methods study of New Zealand entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurial social capital develops through the accrual of resources gained from an entrepreneur's social ties. These are integral to entrepreneurial success, enabling access to financial, marketing, and human resources, and innovation. Entrepreneurs increasingly manage their networks through online platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. However, there are major gaps in the extant empirical research concerning how online social capital is manifested, if this differs from an in-person context, and the effects ‘online’ and ‘offline’ social capital resources on tourism business success. This study adopts a mixed-method approach to examine tourism entrepreneur's behaviours in building offline and online social capital, and their nuanced effects on firm performance. The results found tourism entrepreneurs' networking activity manifests in three distinct configurations, Active Online Networkers, In-Person Networkers, and the Less Engaged. Each configuration demonstrated varying effects on expected business growth and performance with regards to number of employees, sales revenues, and net profit.     

Distinguishing the Destination Choices of Pleasure Travelers from Taiwan

Abstract

This study examined whether the destination choices of Taiwanese outbound travelers could be differentiated by their so-ciodemographics, travel characteristics, and benefits pursued. Using discriminant analysis, the results revealed that the choice of outside of Asia-Pacific region destinations was positively related to income level, education background, length of trip, party size, trip expenditure, inclusive package, and the benefit of ‘Value and Lifestyle’ of a Taiwanese traveler. ‘Safety Net,’ ‘Cost and Experience,’ and ‘Budget Travel’ were benefits pursued by within-Asia travelers. These findings can assist travel and tourism related organizations in developing marketing programs.     

Using geographical and semiotic means to establish fixed points of a never-ending story: searching for parameters of authenticity in a case study of Australian history

ABSTRACT

Recent scholarship has suggested that history-linked and heritage-based tourism, and its engagement in the never-ending telling of stories, is becoming solidly entrenched as a contribution to the popularisation and consumption of the record of history. The essential challenge for tourism is to tell the story by using history-linked sites and objects as cultural ‘texts’ and as conduits between the past and the present – for providing the experience of ‘being there’ without ‘being there’. Using a story about an episode of Australian history as a case study, this paper experiments with perspectives from geography and semiotics to probe for certainty with fixed points in the story, points which are marked by tangible and visual characteristics and which are at least indicative of important elements which create the identity and significance of the storyscape. A story told through tourism will seldom be permanently fixed, and this circumstance has implications for some of the ideological interpretations of ‘authenticity’, and although the fundamental shape of the story might not be imperilled, the quality of the experience presented through tourism might be. Important implications of this challenge are addressed in this paper.     

Critical Success Factors for Business Tourism Destinations

Abstract

Business tourism is a highly lucrative but competitive sector of the tourism industry which has led many destinations to implement strategies and invest in infrastructure and human resource developments. National and regional capital city status gives additional kudos to a destination. This paper presents critical success factors for business tourism destinations developed from four case studies of successful UK business tourism destinations through stakeholder interviews and explores how Cardiff should exploit its national capital city status to support its business tourism offer. The critical success factors for business tourism destinations include: leadership; networking; branding; skills; ambassadors; infrastructure; and bidding. These will inform an action plan to develop and shape Cardiff's business tourism offer and position Cardiff amongst the UK and Europe's major business tourism destinations.     

‘The smell of death and the smell of life’: authenticity,anxiety and perceptions of death at Varanasi’s cremation grounds

ABSTRACT

This paper contributes to an understanding of existential authenticity and existential anxiety in tourism studies through an investigation of tourists’ perceptions of death, the Self, and ‘others’ at the Hindu cremation grounds in Varanasi, India. Encounters with death at dark tourism sites serve as reminders of one’s own mortality affecting one’s attitude towards death, perception of self, and even challenging one’s personal values. Existentialists assert that anxiety is a condition of existential authenticity, and therefore moments of the existentially authentic experience are not always pleasurable. This paper argues that confrontation with death, as exemplified by the Aghori rituals and the cremation grounds in Varanasi, offers tourists an opportunity to examine the inevitability that life will end and to engage with this existential predicament and anxiety in an embodied sense, thereby pushing some of them towards life changes in the pursuit of existential authenticity.     

Promoting sustainable tourism in an urban context: Recent developments in Malaga city,Andalusia

The term ‘sustainable tourism’ is rarely used within a specifically urban context yet the concept is as equally applicable to city‐based tourism as it is to rural areas. This paper explores recent attempts to promote sustainable tourism in the city of Malaga, southern Spain and examines the ways in which the activity of tourism is being more closely integrated with other facets of the city's economy and life. Rather than seeing tourism as a ‘separate’ and ‘exotic’ activity, the city authorities are attempting to use tourism in a creative way. It is argued that it is this very integration which constitutes one of the main features of ‘sustainability’ within an urban context. Specific examples of the kinds of strategies being pursued are examined and the paper concludes with a critique of these initiatives from the perspective of the debate on sustainability.     

Self-care for the researcher: dark tourism in Varanasi,India

ABSTRACT

Dark tourism is a popular niche of tourism that allows tourists to come into close proximity with death, atrocity, and the macabre, and therefore has the potential to be an emotional and even traumatic encounter for tourists. While this context has inspired tourism researchers to investigate dark tourists’ motivations, as well as the marketing and representation of dark tourism sites, we have yet to attend to its implications for the researcher. This paper analyzes the emotional experiences and aftermath of fieldwork at the cremation grounds of Varanasi, India, which involved working closely with tourists, Doms, and Aghoris by focusing on the relations of reflexivity, positionality, and emotionality. As a result, we suggest a number of reflexive and self-care practices to be put into place so as to attend to the researchers’ emotional well-being in the fieldwork process.     

Tourist experience of slow tourism: from authenticity to place attachment – a mixed-method study based on the case of slow city in China

ABSTRACT

This study connected slow tourism with the concept of authenticity and place attachment using a mixed-method approach. Different factors were seen as likely to influence the behavioral intention. Yaxi town (the first international slow city in China) was chosen as the research site. Results show that authenticity in the context of slow tourism include objective authenticity, constructivism authenticity and existential authenticity. Authenticity partly influence place attachment and behavioral intention; two dimensions of place attachment have significant effect on behavioral intention. Findings of this study can be applied to slow tourism marketing and slow destination management.     

Visitors' Perceptions of Holiday Experiences and Service Providers: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

The paper presents and discusses the results of an exploratory, empirical study, which intended to explore links between holiday experiences and the assessment of the tourism offering. Focusing on evaluation as perceived by customers, the author argues for the acknowledgement of their notion of the ‘holiday product.’ Consequently, the central theme of the study is the holiday visitor's narrated experience. It was found that prevalent assessment frameworks were inconsistent with the way visitors described their own holiday evaluation. Instead of a component-based judgement process, visitors seem to evaluate holidays against vague holiday ideals. Based on this finding, an alternative role and assessment model of service providers is proposed.