The symmetric and asymmetric influences of destination attributes on overall visitor satisfaction

Visitors are impressed by specific destination attributes, which are sometimes the main motivating reasons for the travel selection or sometimes they are just one of the elements of a whole destination experience. This is because tourism and travel products are generally a combination of several different supplier offerings or they are a combination of the natural and artificial attributes of a destination that cannot be fully known before the experience of travel. Moreover, the importance and influence of these attributes on overall visitor satisfaction may differ considerably, depending on the market segments. In recent years, some studies have shown that the influences of destination attributes on overall visitor satisfaction are not symmetric in every case. For the purposes of this study, the symmetric and asymmetric influences of destination attributes are investigated for three major market segments of the Side-Manavgat area, Antalya, Turkey. The results show that the importance and influences of destination attributes may change according to the analysis technique employed and the market segment examined.     

Exploring the effects of the rural built environment on household car ownership after controlling for preference and attitude: Evidence from Sichuan,China

With the rapid infrastructure development and economic growth in China, household car ownership in the country's rural areas has changed dramatically in the past 16 years. The total number of cars owned by households in rural areas is currently 12 times higher than it was 16 years ago. The exploration of the effects of the built environment on household car ownership in China's rural areas is worthwhile. However, few studies have investigated this topic. To fill in the research gap, this work collected 374 household data from rural areas in China to examine the effects of the built environment in Sichuan's rural areas on the number of cars in a household. It considered family structure, socioeconomic characteristics, and individual's perceptions of the built environment, preferences towards the built environment and attitudes towards car ownership (shortened to perceptions, preferences and attitudes from now on). Geographic information system (GIS) technology, combined with on-site measurement, was used for data collection. The multinomial logit model was applied for estimation. Household structure and the built environment (including the perceived built environment and the objective built environment) significantly influence the number of cars in a household. By contrast, preference and attitude attributes have less influence on car ownership. Most of the findings are in line with the literature in the context of Chinese cities. Nevertheless, new results are also found. For example, rural hukou, and building density have significant positive impacts on household car ownership in China's rural areas, which is in contrast with their effects on cities. As the first study on rural areas in China, this research provides some insights for rural planners and policymakers to understand better the relationship between built environment and household car ownership.     

Determinants of car ownership among young households in the Netherlands: The role of urbanisation and demographic and economic characteristics

In the Netherlands, car ownership among young adults has slowly decreased in recent decades. The main causes of this trend are still unclear. Using a unique dataset in which vehicle registration data were combined with population and income register data for 2012/2013, this paper explores how car ownership among young Dutch households varies with household composition, urbanisation level (of household location), household income, employment status and ethnic background. Logistic regression analysis of this data revealed that urbanisation level and household composition are essential factors influencing car ownership. In addition, we found significant interaction effects between these two factors: the influence of urbanisation level on car ownership was much stronger for young couples than for young families or singles. Our results imply that increasing urbanisation and postponement of parenthood could reduce future car ownership among young adults in general. However, the increasing number of young families moving to more urbanised areas could increase future car ownership in cities.     

Fuzzy importance-performance analysis of visitor satisfaction for theme park: the case of Fantawild Adventure in Taiwan,China

This study presents a quantitative analysis of visitor satisfaction and its relationship with tourism attributes in the Fantawild Adventure Theme Park in Taiwan, China. The study applies a fuzzy method and importance-performance analysis (IPA) to determine the range of impact of various attributes on visitor satisfaction. The weight and logical value of satisfaction were determined by using triangular fuzzy variables. Analysis of 389 visitor surveys identified a complex relationship between satisfaction and the following attributes: recreation experience, park service and management, park environment, guidance information, amusement consumption, and park facilities. Recreation experience is the most significant factor in visitor satisfaction, whereas the attribute of park facilities is the least significant. The fuzzy IPA method is a very useful diagnostic tool for theme park managers, who can use it to identify current problems regarding visitor experiences and then assign priorities to improvement measures for such experiences.     

Using GPS Supported Speed Analysis to Determine Spatial Visitor Behaviour

In this paper a new approach to determine spatial visitor behaviour using GPS‐based measurement of tourists' velocity is given. I prove that GPS‐based velocity measurement is valid and feasible, even in urban areas. Furthermore, I illustrate that the possibility to interpret spatial visitor behaviour, as well as the choice of transportation type, can be drawn out of the recorded data. The suggested procedure delivers several benefits for destination and tourism management, given that the knowledge of spatial visitor behaviour is central to a successful and sustainable destination management. As an example, two studies (Freiburg, Berlin) are presented in this paper. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Choice behavior of tourism destination and travel mode: A case study of local residents in Hangzhou,China

The social and economic growth as result of promoting the rapid development of tourism in China has brought tremendous pressure on the urban transportation systems. Research of travel behavior concerning the characteristics of tourists has provided effective information for transportation planning. Due to different city plans, public transportation system design, car parking design and management, etc., the local situation in developed countries differs from the counterpart in China. However, little research has studied the factors influencing the choice of travel destinations in tourism. The research aims to study the tourism destination and mode choice behavior of tourists and provides suggestions to improve tourism transportation service system. An online questionnaire survey is used to collect data including the travel characteristics and personal attributes of local tourists in different holidays in Hangzhou, China. A multinomial logit model is constructed with the trip destination set as the dependent variable. Results show that age, residential type, car ownership, companion type and holiday length have a significant impact on destination choice. To determine what influences modal choice for such trips, a second logit model is established with travel mode set as the dependent variable with the explanatory variables of age, gender, companion type, car ownership, holiday length and travel destination found to be significant. The results demonstrated that people aged 26 to 44 prefer suburban areas, and they are the main group driving to their travel destination. Public transport use frequency decreases when the destination is located outside of the main tourist area. Finally, suggestions have been proposed to mitigate the congestion and parking problem based on model analysis from the perspective of the bus line setting, transfer improvements, and the policy to limit cars, respectively.     

Transport metabolism, social diversity and equity: The case of São Paulo, Brazil

The movement of people in space implies the consumption of resources such as time, space, money and energy, as well as the production of negative externalities such as accidents, pollution and congestion. Some of these effects have been analyzed on an aggregate level by comparing regions in the world, a set of selected cities and different geographical areas in a particular city. The analysis of data on a more disaggregate level that considers the differences in the cause and continuance of negative transport externalities among social classes and groups living in a particular city in the developing world is rare.This paper uses the São Paulo Metropolitan Region (SPMR) 1997 origin–destination (OD) survey to investigate such phenomenon by taking advantage of the fact that data are divided according to six levels of household income. Results refer to mobility patterns in workable days.The main conclusions are that although people at the lowest income level spend a high share of their income on transport, they have a very low overall mobility and contribute almost nothing to transport externalities. At the other extreme, the two highest income groups that use cars intensively invest much more time, space and money to travel around and so contribute to transport externalities 8.4–15.2 times more than the lowest income group. Such large differences challenge current transport policies in developing countries and call both for a reassessment of assumptions and principles as well as for opposition to the propagation of myths that have sustained such inequitable policies.     

Nonlinear effects of residential and workplace built environment on car dependence

The relationships between the built environment (BE) and car dependence have been thoroughly evaluated, with a primary focus on the residential BE; however, the effects of the BE at workplaces have remained largely unexplored. Little is known about the potential nonlinear effects of the BE at both locations. Using data from a household travel survey in Changchun, China, we aimed to reveal the nonlinear effects of the residential and workplace BE on car dependence by building a gradient boosting decision trees model. The results show that the BE at both locations has strong explanatory power for car ownership and car purchasing intention. With relative contributions values of 17.90% and 18.13%, respectively, the BE at workplaces contributes less to explaining the two dependent variables than the BE at residences. All BE attributes show nonlinear effects on car ownership, and car purchasing intention and the effects differ between residential and workplace locations.     

Emotions in motion: tourist experiences in time and space

Issues of crime in a destination area affect real and perceived visitor safety; away from rare but high profile incidents such as terrorist attacks, visitor security is more likely to be affected by a lesser criminal activity. This paper contributes to our existing understanding of how tourism can be affected by criminal activity by selecting a definable geographical area and investigating the dimensions, scale and nature of visitor-related crime and the perceptions, attitudes and behaviours of visitors in relation to safety issues. The results indicate that, although visitors believed the destination to be a safe one, the statistics indicated that they were more susceptible to crimes of dishonesty, in particular vehicle-related theft, and the times and places they were at risk evidenced different patterns to residents. With visitors accounting for less than 10% of the total population, these differences are not immediately apparent. Visitors are not homogenous and distinct groupings based on perceptions, attitudes and behaviours were found. TheREFore, there is a requirement to examine how crime is impacting on visitors by distinguishing them from the overall crime figures, but measures to protect visitors also have to be tailored to take cognisance of typologies of visitors.     

Islamic Attributes of Destination: Construct Development and Measurement Validation,and Their Impact on Tourist Satisfaction

The objectives of the paper are to first develop a measurement scale for Islamic attributes of destination and then to investigate the influence of Islamic attributes on overall tourist satisfaction. This study followed the sequence of steps that should be performed in developing measures of constructs. The measurement was tested and found to be both reliable and valid. The study found positive relationship between Islamic attributes of destination and overall tourist satisfaction. Important marketing implications are also presented. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Assessing visitor preferences in the management of archaeological and heritage attractions: a case study of Hadrian's Roman Wall

Managing archaeological and heritage sites requires information on visitor preferences to guide displays of cultural exhibits. A choice experiment is used to investigate visitor preferences in the management of Vondolanda Roman fort, within Hadrian's Wall World Heritage Site. It assesses visitor preferences, utility and value of attributes of the site: excavation and research, interpretation information, museum displays, reconstructions, visitor amenities and admission price. Interaction effects between attributes are analysed. The analysis reveals a preference for the status quo and greater choice uncertainty associated with alternative hypothetical attribute bundles. Neighbouring substitute Roman forts affect the price that visitors are willing to pay for entry. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Understanding and measuring tourist destination images

A destination image is ‘the expression of all objective knowledge, impressions, prejudice, imaginations, and emotional thoughts an individual or group might have of a particular place’ (Lawson and Baud Bovy, 1977 ). Destination images influence a tourist's travel decision-making, cognition and behaviour at a destination as well as satisfaction levels and recollection of the experience. This paper looks at the concept of tourist destination images and how destination image research has been approached from different academic disciplines and by practitioners such as tourism marketers. In particular, different techniques for the measurement of a tourist's destination images are reviewed and the dominance of structured, word-based approaches is highlighted. This paper adds to previous work that has listed the main attributes used in image studies by including recent studies, many of which are Australian. In the paper it is argued that to provide valid image research, a preliminary phase of qualitative research is important in order to distil the constructs relevant to the population being studied. Construct elicitation techniques, such as free-elicitation, interactive interviews and focus group interviews, are discussed along with new techniques that include the visual aspect of image, such as photo-elicitation. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Temporal interdependencies in mobility decisions over the life course: A household-level analysis using dynamic Bayesian networks

Life trajectory analysis has been shown a powerful approach to understand the interdependencies between key life events, critical incidents and long-term mobility decisions such as residential move, job change and change in vehicle possession, which in turn constitute the context of daily activity-travel decisions. Because people in multi-earner households share resources, some of these long-term decisions affect them equally, while job change affects them differently because their job location likely differs. Current life course models in transportation research, however, have typically considered individuals' trajectories. To contribute to the further development of the relatively thin line of research in transportation studies, a dynamic Bayesian network approach is proposed to investigate the temporal interdependencies between life course events from a household perspective. Results show that the effects of child birth are much larger on residential and car ownership change than on job change for both household heads in dual-earner households. Moreover, the probability of residential and car ownership change increases when both spouses have relatively long commuting times. In case only the husband faces an excessive commuting time, households have a larger probability of moving house or purchasing an additional car. By contrast, in case only the wife faces an excessive commuting time, she is more likely to change job rather than the household taking particular actions to adjust to the problematic situation.     

Attracting Convention and Exhibition Attendance to Complex MICE Venues: Emerging Data from Macao

This study presents an importance‐performance analysis of multi‐level attributes (event, facility and destination) evaluated by delegates attending an exhibition event in a ‘complex meetings, incentive, convention or exhibition (MICE) venue’ in greater China (mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan). The study's findings expound the relevance of various attributes in light of the emergence of complex MICE venues and destination resorts and, in particular, emphasizes the relative importance of destination – vis‐à‐vis facility – and core event‐related attributes towards determining exhibition attendance. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ideal Standards and Attitude Formation: A Tourism Destination Perspective

This study investigates the way attributes of an individual's ideal destination influence attitudes towards a holiday destination. Traditionally, ideals are used as comparison standards or to weight perception measures, but literature from outside the tourism and business management domains suggest new possibilities exist. A conceptual model was developed and empirically tested using path analysis, and the results indicate that ideal attributes directly influence perceptions of a holiday destination and indirectly influence attitude components of emotion and conation. The implications of the findings are discussed from both a practical and theoretical perspective and raise a number of interesting future research possibilities. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The quays in salford: an analysis of visitor perceptions,satisfaction and behavioural intention

Despite an extensive literature on urban regeneration, visitor perceptions of urban waterfront destinations and their subsequent outcomes remain largely unexplored. The paper reports the findings from a survey of visitors to the Quays in Salford; it focuses on their perceptions, satisfaction and behavioural intentions. While the primary attractions were found to have an important influence, the secondary elements explain more of the variance in overall satisfaction and intention to return to the Quays and the environmental aspects have a greater influence on visitor intention to recommend the destination. The implications of the findings for destination management and marketing are discussed. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Rural traffic management: The Burrator Reservoir experiment

The introduction of traffic management schemes has been one response of the National Parks to the problem of ever-increasing car-borne visitors and the consequent damage caused to the rural environment. By reviewing these schemes and by determining and explaining attitudes towards one particular traffic management experiment, the paper aims to deduce lessons for future policy. The analysis, based on two visitor surveys, suggests that the likelihood of success is improved when schemes are integrated, containing both ‘carrot’ and ‘stick’ elements. Since public perceptions are also found to be pivotal to its success, appropriate marketing of a scheme is vital. The paper concludes, however, that to achieve the fundamental objective of greater accessibility with less mobility, a more wide-ranging marketing effort is required intended to engender a sea change in attitude towards both the car and public transport.     

The effectiveness of environmental interpretation at resource‐Sensitive tourism destinations

The process of appropriate visitor management is an integral part of sound tourism management. Visitor management includes the development and implementation of rules and regulations with respect to visitor activity, which in turn provides the guidelines for visitors. On the other hand, it also aims to create enjoyable visitor experiences in the hope that visitors will appreciate the value of the site. Environmental interpretation in a resource‐sensitive tourism destination is considered to be an effective visitor management strategy that helps to encourage visitors to adopt more appropriate behaviour in order to sustain the development of tourism. This paper aims to examine the processes and purposes of visitor management and environmental interpretation, including relevant definitions and functions. The characteristics of visitor management and environmental interpretation, and how to increase their effectiveness, also are addressed. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Exploring the impact of destination attachment on the intentional behaviour of the US visitors familiarized with Baja California,Mexico

This study focuses on exploring the existing relationship of destination attachment within the US visitor's intentional behaviour towards border places in Baja California, Mexico. The research consists in formulating a set of hypotheses for a model sustained by empirical data obtained from a telephone survey and analysed with Partial Least Squares path modelling. This study found a positive impact of destination attachment on intentional behaviour and visitor experiences, which influences significantly both mentioned constructs. In this context, characterized by the importance of cross-border flows and a stigmatization due to safety issues as well as other kinds of personal visit inhibitors, the study shows that familiarity with destination allows reverting and transforming this impression to a positive perception of the visited place.     

Visitor Management in Protected Areas: From ‘Hard’ to ‘Soft’ Approaches?

Historically, visitor management in protected areas has been concerned largely with visitor impacts and emphasis has been placed on managing negative impacts. This has involved controlling visitor numbers, attempting to modify visitor behaviour and also modifying the resource. These approaches can be divided into ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ categories (Ling Kuo, 2002). ‘Hard’ visitor management approaches involve physical management, regulatory management and economic management. ‘Soft’ approaches make use of education and interpretation. While the approach of managing impacts has its merits, and has met with some success, it has tended to assume that the visitor is ‘guilty until proven innocent’ (Mason, 2002). Such an approach has also tended to ignore the role of visitor experience in relation to visitor management. This paper critically evaluates a number of ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ approaches to visitor management, focusing specifically on interpretation and codes of conduct in protected natural areas in New Zealand, Australia and Antarctica. It argues that the traditional approach of managing visitor impacts should be supported by a far greater emphasis on managing visitor experience. It proposes that placing emphasis on managing visitor experience should allow a more holistic perspective to be employed, in which the visitor can be put within a context that includes both the destination community and the environment visited. Such an approach, it is argued, should not only lead to better informed and behaved visitors, but a reduction in negative visitor impacts.