Destination management organizations and destination marketing: adopting the business model of e-portals in engaging travel agents

ABSTRACT

Destination management organizations (DMOs) have an important role in engaging stakeholders in collaboration. Collaborating with stakeholders is useful for both stakeholders and destinations. However, it takes time and needs rigorous coordination to avoid conflicts with stakeholders. This study measures travel agencies’ attitudes towards engaging in online collaboration with DMOs for marketing purposes. It incorporates collaboration and technology acceptance models to predict the attitudes and intentions of travel agents using structural equation modeling. Data were collected from travel agents in Cairo, Egypt, using the random sample technique. This study will be useful for travel and tourism stakeholders and governmental marketing bodies.     

Community participation in heritage tourism planning: is it too much to ask?

Considering the complications of collecting empirical data on community participation, this study proposes a new methodological approach that departs from the current literature. For the first time, an experimental procedure is adopted to conduct a direct comparison between participatory and non-participatory decision-making in the context of heritage tourism planning. Contrary to previous work, this is the first ex-ante assessment of community participation at a destination with no such prior experience. The analysis relies on behavioural data on choices, deliberation and conflict studied in the context of a controlled collaborative environment. The findings suggest that choices and deliberation between participatory and non-participatory groups exhibit no statistically significant differences although participatory groups were more susceptible to conflict. However, interestingly, conflict was constructive as it increased provisions for heritage goods. Furthermore, intra-group heterogeneity did not always affect collective decisions negatively whereas trust and institutional credibility played a major role in influencing both individual and collective preferences. These findings have important implications for research and policy, opening a novel avenue for the systematic study of participation dynamics to inform the instigation of participatory endeavours.     

Examining the predictive validity of SUS-TAS with maximum parsimony in developing island countries

The Sustainable Tourism Attitude Scale (SUS-TAS) has been used as a tool to gauge the sentiment of local residents toward sustainable tourism development. This scale has been validated in cross-cultural settings by several scholars. In a like manner, in order to validate this scale, data were collected in the Cape Verde islands (off the coast of Africa) and the results showed (1) a parsimonious version of the 21-item SUS-TAS that facilitates the process of data collection without compromising its robustness and psychometric properties, (2) a validated second-order factor model, confirming that the seven factors of SUS-TAS can be loaded in two broader dimensions named “perceived tourism impacts” and “expected tourism sustainability”, (3) a SUS-TAS second-order factor model with validity in predicting residents’ support for sustainable tourism development, (4) that SUS-TAS can be interpreted by seven individual factors and/or as a global factor as indicated by the hierarchical measurement model and predictive validity. Methodological and theoretical interpretations are discussed and future refinement and applications are also offered.     

Examining relationships among perceived benefit,tourist experience and satisfaction: the context of intelligent sharing bicycle

Intelligent sharing bicycle has been a new fashion in China and appeals to more and more tourists. To better understand the experience of tourists traveling on sharing bicycle, this study explored the influence of perceived benefit of sharing bicycle on different perceived experiences, including escape, entertainment, esthetic and educational experiences. The relationships between these experiences and perceived satisfaction were also tested. An effective questionnaire survey was conducted for 296 tourists in Chengdu, China. The results of the study show that perceived benefit significantly relates to all the four dimensions of experience. However, only entertainment and esthetic experience seem to affect tourist satisfaction in this context. The relationship among educational experience, escape experience and tourist satisfaction are insignificant. Theoretical and practical implications of the study results are discussed for further research.     

江苏省生态农业与生态旅游业耦合研究

[目的]目前我国正处于关键的经济转型期,生态农业和生态旅游业作为生态文明建设的重要产业之一,其耦合发展对于存进产业结构优化升级具有重要作用。[方法]通过构建生态农业与生态旅游业指标体系,采用灰色关联法计算江苏省生态农业与生态旅游业的关联度,进一步通过耦合协调度模型分析两者的协调程度。[结果]生态农业系统与生态旅游系统中的旅游经济、旅游资源和旅游价值的关联度分别为0.719,0.673和0.621,大小顺序分别为旅游经济旅游资源旅游价值,而生态旅游系统与生态农业系统中生态系统、经济系统和社会系统的关联度分别为0.687,0.700和0.626,大小顺序分别为经济系统生态系统社会系统,耦合作用均分别为较强、较强和中等。2012~2016年江苏省生态农业和生态旅游业耦合度处于磨合阶段,但一直在增加,同时耦合水平经历了初级协调发展水平到中级协调发展水平的过程。[结论]江苏省生态农业和生态旅游业的耦合发展仍有进步的空间,今后应加强耦合发展机制,推动两大耦合产业走向更深更广的发展领域,促进生态文明建设,同时保证生态产业的可持续健康发展。     

海南省旅游业发展对经济增长的拉动效应研究

[目的]海南当前处于国际旅游岛建设和全面建成小康社会的关键时期,旅游业作为海南省的主导产业对海南经济发展的支撑作用显著增强,在此形势下,分析旅游业发展对海南经济增长的拉动效应,有利于为进一步提升旅游业对海南区域经济发展的影响,促进区域经济发展和经济结构转型,提出科学可行的对策和建议。[方法]文章从时间和空间两个维度,运用旅游业依存度、贡献率和拉动率3个指标,以旅游收入与地区生产总值等统计指标为基础,探讨了海南省旅游业对经济增长的拉动效应。[结果]从时间维度来看,海南省旅游业对地区经济增长的拉动作用进一步加大;从空间维度来看,海南省旅游业的拉动效应并不突出;从市(县)域维度来看,海南省各市(县)旅游业对经济增长拉动效应存在空间差异,东部地区拉动效应持续增长,中部地区增长势头迅猛,北部地区增长缓慢。[结论]不断完善海南旅游基础设施与管理体系;要不断细分和规范旅游产品,提升旅游产品的吸引力和复购率,完善营销及咨询服务体系;注意与其他产业的协调发展,加强与周边省份的交流与合作,省内要因地制宜,挖掘各地旅游业发展特色,推动各市(县)均衡发展,以进一步加强海南省旅游支柱产业的作用,并快速实现区域经济跨越式发展。     

Local cuisines and destination marketing: cases of three cities in Shandong,China

This study analyzes how the three cities of Jinan, Qingdao, and Qufu in Shandong Province of China use their cuisines in promoting their destinations. Based on a critical review of previous studies, a conceptual framework was developed, which included five closely related areas: foods, beverages, dining, farming, and food festivals. All related texts, images, videos, brochures, booklets, and websites designed to market these three cities were content-analyzed. The study findings suggest that all the three cities have not yet fully utilized their cuisines in their destination marketing efforts. Although some of their culinary resources appear in their marketing materials, the local cuisines of these three cities are not yet skillfully integrated into their marketing efforts. The present study offers specific theoretical and practical implications on marketing the culinary resources of destinations that are in the early stages of their development.     

An existentialist exploration of tourism sustainability: backpackers fleeing and finding themselves

This article applies existentialism to sustainable tourism discussion using an exploratory netnographic case study of 12 backpackers. Highlighted is the importance of both existential avoidance and authenticity to participants looking to escape and transcend underlying existential anxiety. Avoidance can be found in the cultural-adherence and self-esteem pathways facilitated by travel. Authenticity is identified in the deeper interactions with host peoples and landscapes, and the liberation, reflection and learning which emerge from this. Avoidance and authenticity are linked in turn with the sustainability of tourism pursued. The former is associated with more hedonistic escape and superficial, self-centric and insensitive tourism. The latter is suggestive of more transcendent escape and involved, appreciative and alternative tourism.     

Perception of tourism development and subjective happiness of residents in Mashhad,Iran

Tourism development affects various aspects of a populace’s life, such as environmental, social, economic, and other areas. This study examines the effect of perceived tourism development on subjective happiness and quality of life among residents of Mashhad City, Iran. A sample size of 384 residents completed a survey. Data analysis was performed using WarpPLS. Results indicated that tourism development had an effect on the residents’ subjective happiness and quality of life (QOL) and the effects of social and micro economic factors on the residents’ subjective happiness and the effects of cultural, environmental, and macroeconomic factors on the resident’s QOL.     

Towards a Smart Tourism Business Ecosystem based on Industrial Heritage: research perspectives from the mining region of Rio Tinto,Spain

The implications of the study provide suggestions for future improvements relating to the development of industrial tourism destinations. The possibility of ‘re-using’ the old industrial and mining heritage could favour the development of an economic opportunity to the recession that affected most industrial regions after the 1960s. This paper is focused on the field of industrial heritage tourism management (IHTM) to deepen the knowledge about its business ecosystem. The IHTM is chosen because a number of evidences highlight the interconnections that exist between this field and the business ecosystem concept. To explore these interconnections, the purpose of this article is to define a frame of analysis based also on the emergent initiative of smart tourism and to set up a theoretical framework not only used to the case study of the region of Rio Tinto mine in Spain, but also used as a policy instrument to suggest propositions for recommending new paths for future studies.