Local intentions to participate in ecotourism development in Taiwan’s Atayal communities

By applying the theoretical concepts of planned behaviors and social exchange, this study aims to examine the decisive factors that influence the behavioral intentions of local residents in three Atayal communities in Yilan County, Taiwan, to participate in the community development of ecotourism. This study uses AMOS software to perform structural equation modeling. The results of the study indicate that (1) residents’ attitudes toward community-based ecotourism development, perceived behavioral control, and perceived social benefits have significant correlations with their behavioral intentions and that (2) respondents involved in community-related organizations have more positive behavioral intentions. Due to their location in remote areas to which tourists rarely venture, these three Atayal communities lack the incentives to attract tourists or to trigger the participation of the broader community in ecotourism development with the promise of sharing tourism revenue. Most Atayal residents in the research area clearly lack the ‘rights to develop’ and the ‘means to get involved’. From the perspective of power relations, this study could contribute insight into the theoretical and empirical implications of hierarchical influences to examine the political–economic inferiority of indigenous behavioral intentions toward community-based ecotourism development.     

Does travellers’ casual attribution affect pre-recovery emotions and behavioural intentions? A field study of airline travellers in Malaysia

This study examines the relationship between airline travellers' casual attribution, pre-recovery emotions, and negative behavioural intentions after a service failure and proposes a model for analysing direct effects of airline travellers' casual attribution of stability (failure frequency) and controllability (the extent to which the airline can control the failure) on negative behavioural intentions as well as its indirect effects through pre-recovery emotions. Data were gathered through a survey of airline travellers who experienced a failure in the past six months. The results indicate that both dimensions of casual attribution influenced pre-recovery emotions and negative behavioural intentions, and that pre-recovery emotions were significantly related to negative behavioural intentions. In addition, the results verify the mediating effect of pre-recovery emotions on the relationship between casual attribution and behavioural intentions. These results have important managerial implications.     

Ethics and influences in tourist perceptions of climate change

Ethical decisions to visit disappearing destinations are self-serving and influences feed into self-interest. Data were collected from a sample of pre-, during- and post-visit tourists to Venice and Svalbard, using expressive techniques and scenarios using the Hunt–Vitell model to understand ethical decisions, and the constructive technique and collage to understand influences. The results show that travel decisions are driven by individual selfishness, and any threat to freedom (i.e. the right to travel) is underplayed. The preferred scenario for long-term benefit for planet and people is via short-term economic and social negative impacts on the destination's locals, rather than the tourists' own experience. Respondents believe that they are blameless for their purchasing habits as they lack perceived behavioural control, and instead corporations ought to be providing sustainable products as the norm and not sell products that harm. In the scenarios, where respondents express concern for the locals in a disappearing destination (i.e. if we do not visit, they will not benefit from our expenditure), individual selfishness to visit could be the driver, rather than an altruistic act to provide support. Theoretical and policy implications are discussed.