A preliminary examination of the relationship between consumer attitude towards space travel and the development of innovative space tourism technology

With increasing global competition in service sectors, innovative technologies have radically changed the tourism industry, and to be successful innovative products/services must have clear, significant points of difference that are related to needs in the market place. Furthermore, changes in consumer perceptions that emanate from an innovation are central to its effective product and service design. Although for most of us space travel is still a faraway dream, it is in fact a future probability that will increasingly attract travellers who seek new vacation experiences, and as a result, sustain academic interest. Thus, in initiating space tourism for the purposes of recreation, leisure and knowledge enhancement, a preliminary estimation of potential global demand characteristics that are specific to consumer innovators for space travel needs to be undertaken prior to promotion of research and development. In this context, this paper investigates both consumer attitudes towards space travel by analysing the components of motivated consumer innovativeness and the interest that potential consumers have in developing space tourism technology innovations within Taiwan. Consumer innovativeness is complex and comprised four innovativeness types, namely, social, functional, hedonic and cognitive. As product/service innovation development has been relatively unexplored in the mature industry of tourism, many business managers would welcome an understanding of which vacation travellers are most likely to be the earliest buyers of such an exciting new product. With data collected from a sample of 354 Taiwanese, this research uses mediated regression to examine the influence of the four types of consumer innovativeness on consumer's attitudes and acceptance of a space tourism technology innovation, and the mediating role perceived novelty plays in the relationship. The findings indicate that only hedonic and social innovativeness are associated with improved consumer attitude and that novelty partially mediates the relationship for those two types of consumer innovativeness. The implications for theory and practice are discussed. Limitations and directions for future research are also addressed.     

互联网对旅游目的地分销渠道影响——黄山案例研究

互联网的发展与应用对旅游目的地分销渠道产生了显著影响,传统旅行社的分销渠道功能发生变化,一些新的分销渠道如黄山的自助游服务酒店开始出现。关于互联网是否导致旅游分销渠道的"去中介化"和"再中介化"的争论成为学术界讨论的热点。文章以黄山为案例,以历时态的视角动态分析了互联网对黄山旅游目的地分销渠道的影响。研究发现,互联网使旅游目的地分销渠道更加多元化、网络化,目的地旅游分销关系、功能与结构等方面也发生了相应的变化,旅游者的主导地位增强,旅游中介的垄断地位相对减弱,但目的地的分销渠道"去中介化"与"再中介化"并未清晰地形成。     

Analysis of Korean millennials’ travel expenditure patterns: an almost ideal demand system approach

ABSTRACT

Generational cohorts can differ in their consumption patterns and preferred travel behavior. As the millennial generation represents an important economic force and influences new consumption trends, this study utilizes nationwide data and almost ideal demand system (AIDS) approach to examine expenditure patterns of Korean travelers during holidays. In this process, the joint effects of travel-related characteristics are also examined. The results of the AIDS estimation on data from 871 domestic travelers reveal significantly different travel expenditure patterns for cohorts. The findings contribute to furthering the understanding of how different generational cohorts allocate their travel budgets to respective travel expenditure categories.     

The Japanese Vacation Visitor to Alaska: A Preliminary Examination of Peak and Off Season Traveler Demographics,Information Source Utilization,Trip Planning,and Customer Satisfaction

Summary

The current study examines data gathered on the Japanese visitor to Alaska during the summer of 1996 and winter of 1997. The survey focused on several topics: the demographic profile of the visitor, their motivations, the sources of information used, actual trip behaviors, and indices of customer satisfaction. Results indicate that the Japanese visitor to Alaska segment may be further subdivided based on season, winter and summer. Implications are discussed.     

Understanding the Cultural Differences in Tourist Motivation Between Anglo-American and Japanese Tourists

Summary

There is considerable evidence to suggest that differences in cultural characteristics exist across the world. Among them, individualistic societies emphasize “I” consciousness, autonomy, emotional independence, pleasure seeking and universalism. On the other hand, col-lectivistic societies stress “we” consciousness, collective identity, group solidarity, sharing, and particularism. A comparative research on the motivation of tourists from different cultures may challenge current tourism research, which mainly focuses on individualism and rationalism. These values of individualism and rationalism result in underestimation of the influence of groups, norms, culture, and emotion or impulse on tourist behavior. There have been few studies which attempt to directly measure cultural characteristics and identity across culture, and to explain how these cultural characteristics play a role in creating distinctive differences in tourist motivation. Thus, this study explores (1) cultural differences underlying individualism-collectivism between Anglo-American and Japanese tourists; (2) examines the relationship of two cultural dimensions to tourist motivation, and (3) suggests management implications facing tourism industry.     

基于激励机制下的高校科研管理研究

高校的科研管理工作关系到一个学校的生存和发展,也是衡量学校创新水平的重要标志之一。本文采取激励机制这样一个视角,通过对其内涵的阐述,分析了当前高校科研管理存在的现状。作者将激励机制同高校科研管理部门和人员的团队建设、考核和物质以及精神激励相结合,为科研管理的持续有序的发展提供途径。     

中国奖励旅游经营的特征、问题与思考——基于旅行社的访谈分析

文章在对广州市10家代表性旅行社的会奖负责人进行半结构性深度访谈的基础上,运用内容分析的方法,提炼出现阶段中国奖励旅游经营的特征与面临的共性问题,主要有：对奖励旅游的内涵认知国内更关注旅游成本的来源而不是活动的激励效果;购买方消费习惯不成熟、目的性不强、交易中平等沟通意识不够;奖励旅游中间商提供的产品创意性不强、组织结构不适应,管理科技含量低且与买方关系结合方式不稳定;供应商与中间商合作不稳定、服务灵活性不强且对目的地支持的依赖程度高。进一步指出,在中国传统文化下,重集体主义的奖励理念影响了消费意识;旅游业自身的结构性障碍及多重委托代理下的旅行社供应链地位不稳定造成行业的无序竞争与产品质量的难以控制;政府促进下的行业管理组织的成立是规范经营的重要途径。     

The Problem of Motivation in Understanding the Demand for Leisure Day Visits

Abstract

Motivation for leisure travel has been an equivocal aspect of the study of leisure travel. Psychological theory has been useful providing conceptions of tourism motivation based on drives and needs, however, operational problems occur using attitude constructs which have varying degrees of predictive ability. This paper offers an alternative approach to the problems of motivation, taking a pheno-menological approach to the issues, using ethno-methodological techniques in a logical, sociologically grounded analysis of conversational interview data.     

Sustaining urban place-making

Educational travel, a neglected area of study in sustainable tourism, has grown substantially over the last 20 years in part as a response to institutional missions to promote international education, but also as a result of the USA's national security concerns to nurture a global citizenry. Considerable future growth is predicted following the bipartisan Lincoln Commission report and under the pending new legislation in the USA. Our pre-test/post-test study of almost 5% (n = 651 US students) of the entire short-term, US educational travel market to Australia and New Zealand between 2008 and 2009 revealed significant differences between the cohorts of the two programs, both of which focused on sustainable development. The Australia program not only produced significant increases in global citizenship (as measured by scores on consumer behaviors, support for environmental policies, and environmental citizenship) beyond that of the New Zealand program, but any initial differences between the programs were erased following participation. Reasons for the differences in attitude change are discussed. Analysis also noted key differences between students with different political orientations, but no gender differences. Implications for managing educational travel, marketing Australia's and New Zealand's tourism, sustainable tourism planning, and theory advancements are discussed.     

The impact of perceived security and consumer innovativeness on e-loyalty in online travel shopping

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the impacts of perceived security and consumer innovativeness on online travel shopping. A survey questionnaire was used to collect data and a total of 283 questionnaires were used for data analysis. The mechanism of perceived security and consumer innovativeness was then identified. The study results indicate that: (1) higher perceived security increases the perception of website image and trust; (2) consumers with a higher level of innovativeness tend to trust travel websites; (3) website image has a mediating effect between perceived security and trust; and (4) trust has a mediating effect between website image and e-loyalty.