Product placement and tourism‐oriented environments: an exploratory introduction

This paper examines the ‘physical’ placement of products within tourism‐oriented environments. Product placement is usually associated with the incorporation of branded products into media vehicles. However, a type of placement also occurs within ‘non‐store’ spaces used by tourists. Product placement within these spaces may increase awareness about certain products and, ultimately, induce purchases. Tourism‐oriented environments may enhance the attractiveness of placed products because they enable consumers to interact with and appraise these products before they purchase them. A number of examples are provided, which demonstrate that marketers seek to create encounters between tourists and products. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Removing biases in computed returns

This paper presents a straightforward method for asymptotically removing the well-known upward bias in observed returns of equally-weighted portfolios. Our method removes all of the bias due to any random transient errors such as bid-ask bounce and allows for the estimation of short horizon returns. We apply our method to the CRSP equally-weighted monthly return indexes for the NYSE, Amex, and NASDAQ and show that the bias is cumulative. In particular, a NASDAQ index (with a base of 100 in 1973) grows to the level of 17,975 by 2006, but nearly half of the increase is due to cumulative bias. We also conduct a simulation in which we simulate true prices and set spreads according to a discrete pricing grid. True prices are then not necessarily at the midpoint of the spread. In the simulation we compare our method to calculating returns based on observed closing quote midpoints and find that the returns from our method are statistically indistinguishable from the (simulated) true returns. While the mid-quote method results in an improvement over using closing transaction prices, it still results in a statistically significant amount of upward bias. We demonstrate that applying our methodology results in a reversal of the relative performance of NASDAQ stocks versus NYSE stocks over a 25 year window.     

‘Passports to pleasure’: credit cards and contemporary travel

This paper explores the relationship between credit cards and contemporary travel. The credit card has transformed the way in which travel‐related experiences are produced and consumed. Production‐related activities within both the travel and credit card industries have, in certain ways, become rationalised, systematised and more co‐ordinated. As a result, credit cards are widely accepted by travel providers around the world. The credit card has also altered travel‐related consumption; in particular, pleasure travel and hedonism have become more accessible to a broad proportion of the population in many Western countries. This tension between rationalised production and pleasure‐driven consumption underpins the travel industry and, more broadly, contemporary economies. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The distinctive dynamics of exurban tourism

The distinctiveness of the urban–rural fringe as a tourism venue, which merits recognition of exurban tourism as a distinct subfield, is based on a unique product amalgam that includes theme parks, tourist shopping villages, near‐urban protected areas, factory outlet malls, golf courses and touring. In addition, the market is characterised by blurred tourist/non‐tourist distinctions, a weak accommodation sector and extremely high visitation levels at some sites. It is argued that the urban–rural fringe is an inherently unstable area characterised by a variant of the standard destination life cycle confined to the late involvement, development and consolidations stages, and paralleling comparable volatile stages within the broader urban life cycle. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

(Selfie)ishness: using the I-It/I-Thou distinction to parse an ethics of self-portraiture

ABSTRACT

Martin Buber’s I-It/I-Thou distinction is presented in this article as a useful analytic framework for approaching the ethics of self-portraiture without unnecessarily falling back on the (not always helpful) psychological term of narcissism. The result of the application of Buber’s I-It/I-Thou to self-portraiture will reveal that, while some acts can represent the sort of championing of the self over others that we find worrisome in selfies, this is not productively discovered with the language of narcissism. Instead of looking for self-focus as the locus of ethics, the framework of Buber’s I-It/I-Thou asks that analysts look for the legitimacy of the second-personal demands that an instance of selfie-taking places on other persons. Implications to communication ethics are discussed.     

With the best of intentions: a large sample test of the intention‐behaviour gap in pro‐environmental consumer behaviour

Many consumers intend to make pro‐environmental purchases; however, this is not always what occurs. A gap exists between consumer intentions to purchase environmentally friendly products and their actual purchase behaviour. The current study uses a large sample of Australian consumers (N = 772) to test Carrington, Neville and Whitwell's (2010) conceptual model of the intention‐behaviour gap. Responses showed that implementation intentions mediated the relationship between intention and pro‐environmental consumer behaviour. Behavioural control and environmental involvement were found to moderate the relationship between implementation intentions and behaviour. Shopping context was found to moderate the relationship between intention and implementation intentions. The findings have theoretical implications for furthering understanding of pro‐environmental consumer behaviour, and practical implications regarding how to generate socially beneficial behaviours.     

Remembrance Trails of the Great War on the Western Front: routes of heritage and memory

ABSTRACT

The First World War Centenary (2014–2018) is stimulating much interest in the memory of this conflict and is already encouraging increased tourism to the old Western Front region of France and Belgium. One of the strategies adopted by regional tourism authorities is the creation of ‘Remembrance Trails’ – self-guided circuits designed for car, motorbike or bicycle. Using a case study approach, this paper will examine these trails from a perceptual angle to demonstrate how, despite the lack of empirical evidence in our understanding of them, Remembrance Trails have a key role to play in the emerging war-tourism resources of the region. Using the model of Timothy and Boyd (2015), the routes are interpreted as either organically or purposively planned and in linking ‘sites of memory’ able to provide an effective way of engaging with the landscape and narrative of war. The paper argues that the routes have an important role to play in the transmission of memory and as ‘linear memorials’ can be viewed as emerging pilgrimage routes with the potential to concentrate experience in a dynamic way.     

Effectiveness of Capital Controls: the Case of Brazil

The emerging market crises of the past decade have led some observers to question the wisdom of a completely open capital account. But even if capital controls are desirable, empirical evidence is needed to demonstrate when and under what circumstances restrictions are effective. This paper investigates this issue for Brazil. Much analysis of policy effectiveness has been conducted with vector autoregressions. The validity of policy inference based on this technique has been cast into doubt, so this paper employs a more “narrative” method, modeling flows to Brazil as ARMAX processes. This approach yields the interesting result that controls can be effective when the reaction of financial market participants to restrictions is taken into account, and derivatives and debt market activities curtailed.