The Effect of Cultural Distance on Tourism: A Study of International Visitors to Hong Kong

This study focuses on the impact of cultural distance on the behavior of international pleasure tourists who visited Hong Kong. It analyzes data drawn from the Hong Kong Tourism Board's Visitor Profile Report, and tests whether cultural distance has a similar impact on behavior as noted in previous studies examining physical distance. The study concludes that cultural distance exerts a modest impact on such attributes as demand, travel party composition, trip profile, behaviors, expenditure and satisfaction.     

State tourism in China and USA

Schuchat, Molly G., “State Tourism in China and USA,” Annals of Tourism Research, October/December 1979, VI(4):425–434. This paper discusses the experiences available to most visitors to the Peoples Republic of China and to those visitors to the United States of America who are cultural exchange grantees. In the United States the Department of State contracts out the programming and direction of its officially invited guests to non-profit agencies that work in cooperation with a nationwide network of local volunteers. Almost all visitors to China, no matter who paid for their trip, were treated as official guests of the country, until 1978. It is only in the last year that they have been considered tourists at all. The range of contacts and experiences offered in both countries have a great deal of similarity. One focus of the paper is on what these guests (or any others not so similarly shepherded) are able to learn of countries not their own through exposure to public life. The material was gathered on visits to China in January, 1977 and September, 1978, and in interviews with programming and interpreting staffs, volunteers and grantees in Washington, D.C.     

Developing and validating a Chinese cultural value scale in tourism

Chinese cultural values are important in understanding Chinese tourists’ behaviour. However, the literature is void of a relevant scale measuring Chinese cultural values in tourism. This research aims to develop and validate a Chinese cultural values scale in tourism (abbreviated as CCV-T). Following a rigorous scale development procedure and applying multi-stage studies, the research identified a 5-factor measurement scale of CCV-T, composed of 17 items with sufficient reliability and validity. The five Chinese cultural value factors are Leisure and Life Enjoyment (LLE), Filial Piety and Relationship (FPR), Self-fulfilment, Righteousness, and Humanity. The CCV-T scale provides a simplified and holistic structure measuring tourism-related Chinese cultural values. This research provides a solid base to further understand the relationships between Chinese cultural values and tourist behaviour.     

Leisure Diversity as an Indicator of Cultural Capital

The diversity of activities in a repertoire of leisure is a variable shown to have considerable impact on the quality of leisure and beneficial personal outcomes, and it is proposed as one important indicator of cultural capital. Theoretical perspectives on cultural capital indicate the importance of education in preparing individuals for broad patterns of leisure consumption in addition to status attainment. Contemporary advances demonstrate that status attainment cannot be equated with high cultural consumption and that broadly omnivorous leisure pursuits may be more valuable to social actors. Role attachment theory and disengagement theory are additionally explored as possible theoretical explanations that assist in predicting leisure diversity that is highly patterned by employment and one's age. The number of different leisure experiences that constitute an individual's leisure repertoire is expected to change throughout the life-course as needs for cultural capital vary and as demands in paid and domestic work change. Tobit models of leisure diversity are proposed using American Time Use Survey (ATUS) data. Findings indicate that leisure diversity is impacted by ethnicity, recent immigration, age and socio-economic status, and theoretically relevant conditional relationships are explored.     

Cultural heritage and Indigenous tourism

ABSTRACT

Tourism is acknowledged as a vehicle that can help sustain both tangible and intangible elements of Indigenous cultural heritage, including languages, stories, song, art, dance, hunting methods, rituals and customs. Often, cultural heritage products developed for tourism promise to provide many socio-economic opportunities for the communities involved, however, tourism can also present a challenge as the self-management of Indigenous cultural product and cultural identity can be problematic. Given the pivotal role culture plays in the sustainability of Indigenous tourism products, it is time for a twenty-first century examination of the nexus between cultural heritage and Indigenous tourism. This paper reflects upon tourism and contemporary Indigenous cultural heritage, both tangible and intangible. Through a review of the current literature on Indigenous tourism and cultural heritage, the authors identify key areas for future research and aim to stimulate further discussion around the ways Indigenous tourism may be developed to sustain Indigenous cultural heritage.     

Culture as determinant of the attractiveness of a tourism region

Ritchie, J.R. Brent and Michel Zins, “An Empirical Evaluation of the Role of Culture and its Components as Determinants of the Attractiveness of a Tourism Region,” Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. V, No. 2, April/June 1978, pp. 252–267. This study examines how explicit manifestations of culture are related to the attractiveness of a tourism region. A mail questionnaire was employed to obtain the opinions of managers and functionaries from various sectors of tourism and from different areas of cultural develppment. Survey results were subsequently reviewed by respondents within the framework of discussion workshops. These orkshops provided qualitative enrichment of the quantitative findings and formulated detailed recommendations for tourist development programs.     

Discursive constructions of night sky experiences: Imagination and imaginaries in national park visitor narratives

Communities and protected areas worldwide have initiated programs to protect and promote dark night skies. Yet, limited research has explored how and why night skies become of interest or meaningful to people. Because night skies are literally beyond human reach, we focus on how visitors to a U.S. national park imagine night skies and invoke imaginaries that make night skies meaningful. Drawing from interviews, we examine how visitors use symbolic language, narrative, and other discursive practices to develop the social, cultural, and spatial contexts of their night sky experiences. Findings inform our understanding of imagination and imaginaries in tourism and recreation research, while offering new approaches to night skies research.     

Peer-to-peer accommodation experience: A Chinese cultural perspective

With the growing popularity of peer-to-peer (P2P) accommodation worldwide, this conceptual paper reviews and explores Chinese users’ P2P accommodation experiences from a cultural perspective. The paper conceptually explores the influence of Chinese cultural traditions on the P2P accommodation experience. These cultural traditions include renqing (人情), guanxi (关系), mianzi (面子) and yuan (缘). Renqing was revealed to have an enduring impact on Chinese users’ loyalty. A conceptual yuan-based host-guest relationship framework was established including four stages - “to have yuan” (有缘), “match yuan” (投缘), “cherish yuan” (惜缘) and “continue yuan” (续缘). By revealing the influence of deep-seated values underpinning Chinese hospitality, this research contributes to the globalization of hospitality knowledge by painting a new understanding of Chinese user P2P accommodation experiences.     

Roles of intangible cultural heritage in tourism in natural protected areas

The ‘new paradigm’ for protected areas emphasizes communities and their cultural assets, including intangible cultural heritage, as critical and inseparable parts of these areas. As tourism can be a significant factor in the economic framework of natural protected areas (NPAs), the prominent role of the community can have important implications. This paper reports on one of the first empirical studies on the interaction between intangible cultural heritage and tourism in an NPA with a special focus on the role of intangible cultural heritage. It is based on six months of qualitative ethnographic fieldwork in Qeshm Geopark, in the South of Iran. Local intangible cultural heritage is found to manifest and be used in tourism in three distinct ways: First, as a source of attraction and addition to any tourism offerings; second, as conservation tool, especially where the natural environment has strong cultural meanings for the local community; and third, as a driver for facilitating culturally and naturally sensitive behaviour by visitors. Concluding statements address any conceptual and practical implications.     

Site and situation strategy in tourism planning: A Mexican case study

Mexico has experienced all the effects, good and ill, of a large and expanding tourist trade. Tourism's negative consequences--economic dependency, crime, cultural erosion--have manifested themselves in tourist ghettos along Mexico's northern border, on the Mexican Riviera, and in the capital. This study is an assesment of contemporary Mexican tourism planning as it relates to these problems, and further as it seeks to make tourism a stimulus to economically depressed areas of the nation. A case study approach is utilized to identify the strategy of site and situation selection for the new programmed resort complex at Cancun on the Caribbean coast of the Yucatan peninsula. It is concluded that Cancun embodies, at least for Mexico, a radical departure in tourism development. The resort is situated to attract a large foreign clientele and to create the greatest possible positive economic and social impact on a resident Mexican population that has suffered chronic underdevelopment.     

Assisting the poor in China through tourism development: A review of research

The role of Pro-Poor Tourism has been increasingly studied in China since the 1990s. The research has addressed a broad range of key issues such as the implication of “fu pin lv you” (or TAP to use an English acronym arising from the translation ‘Tourism-Assisting the Poor’), governmental roles, local participation and the contribution of rural, natural and cultural resources to TAP. However, there has been a lack of research in some areas such as in the micro-economics of TAP targeting local poor people, quantitative research, case studies and anthropological analysis. This paper reviews Chinese academic literature on pro-poor tourism to provide a clearer picture of current practice and progress in TAP policies and research in China.     

The Importance of Cultural Distance in the Perception of Evaluation of Service Quality

ABSTRACT

The paper deals with determinants in the cross-cultural setting of service encounters in tourism. The first part of the paper describes the theoretically expected influence of culture (cultural values) on the perception of expected and received service qualities. Based on a review of the literature cultural values are hypothesized to intervene in the formation of expectations and the perception of received service quality (satisfaction) across specific service quality related choice and/or decision and evaluation processes. Cases in point are particular dimensions of service quality encountered in tourism destinations, events and accommodation settings. The second part of the paper explores the usefulness and also the limitations of alternate cultural constructs found in the literature and used in the analysis of tourist's service quality judgements. Finally in part three the cultural distance is suggested as a useful potential proxy for the influence of cultural values in tourism applications and is discussed alongside other cultural constructs traditionally employed in tourism analyses.     

FORESHADOWING TOURISM: Looking for modern and obsolete features – or some missing link – in early modern travel behavior (1675–1750)

Foreshadowing Tourism aims to hone or even to upset our understanding of the genesis of tourism. It has long been assumed that nineteenth-century tourism was rooted in the early modern Grand Tour. However, Netherlandish travel diaries, along with some literature from England, Germany, and France, evidence a missing link in this regard. The late seventeenth century witnessed the coming of divertissante somertogjes (pleasurable summer trips) that were in fact poles apart from a classic Grand Tour. By scrutinizing modern features of this novel form of travel (such as its brief and seasonal timing, and the fact that its main motivations were leisure and cultural interests) and more obsolete traits (such as the lack of recurrence or the relatively exclusivity of such touring parties) I seek to restore these speelreysjes (pleasure trips) to their rightful place within the genealogy of travel and tourism. I will also evaluate the potential effects of a transport (r)evolution, cultural development, and a rise in living standards on early modern travel behavior.     

Community agency and sustainable tourism development: the case of La Fortuna,Costa Rica

Previous sustainable tourism research has called for the promotion of community-based tourism as a means of achieving sustainable development goals. Such community-based development has been noted as essential for sustainable practices because of its capacity to benefit local populations while reducing tourism's negative consequences. Nonetheless, some researchers have warned that community-based tourism, by itself, does not necessarily lead to sustainable practices. This study examines local social interactional elements necessary for the achievement of sustainable tourism practices. Such practices are attainable when certain attitudinal, organizational and/or behavioral conditions are present within a community. Using a case study methodology, this article examines the interactional elements by which residents of La Fortuna, Costa Rica, engaged in sustainable tourism practices. The study was based on the theoretical notion of the community field. It used key informant interviews and participant observation. The study shows how economic, social and environmentally sustainable practices were made possible through community agency, the construction of local relationships that increase the adaptive capacity of people within a common locality. Key factors found to enable community agency are strong intra- and extra-community interactions, open communication, participation, distributive justice and tolerance.     

Performing Traditional Dances for Modern Tourists in the Amazon

Summary

This study focused on four indigenous tribes in the Peruvian Amazon that entertain tourists by donning traditional costumes and performing traditional dances. Those who oppose the development of tourism in indigenous communities argue that this type of tourism is demeaning to the locals and leads to cultural imperialism, foreign dependency, revenue leakages, cultural change, change in socioeconomic levels, and loss of authenticity. Those who support controlled tourism in indigenous communities suggest that tourism may offer community members a chance to increase their household income and aid in the preservation of traditional cultures. In the communities in this study, tourism entertainment brings in much needed capital, while at the same time offering an opportunity for locals to embrace their own cultural identity.     

The impact of power on destination advertising effectiveness: The moderating role of arousal in advertising

This study examines the impact of culturally-derived power (i.e., personalized vs. socialized power) on the effectiveness of destination advertising via the moderation of arousal in advertising, by identifying regulatory focus as an underlying mechanism. The findings indicate that high-arousal tourism destination advertisement is more effective for individuals primed with personalized power; low-arousal advertisement is more effective for individuals primed with socialized power. Culturally-derived power is found related to regulatory focus, which interacts with arousal in advertising to influence destination advertising effectiveness. This work not only contributes to the tourism literature by providing a new cultural perspective to the investigation of power, but also informs destination marketers of the importance of designing tailored advertising messages for different tourists.     

Understanding Chinese cultural tourists: typology and profile

ABSTRACT

This study aims to offer a clear and up-to-date typology and profile of Chinese cultural tourists in mainland China following the framework based on cultural centrality and depth of cultural experience. Using a sample of mainland Chinese tourists (n = 656) at three cultural attractions in Guangzhou, China, a typology of Chinese cultural tourists (namely casual, sightseeing, purposeful, serendipitous, and incidental) was developed and trip characteristics (e.g. prior knowledge, time spent to get to know the site before visit, change in knowledge, and on-site activities) and sociodemographics of each segment were also examined. In addition, slight differences are found between local day-trippers and tourists from outside Guangzhou in terms of their types and characteristics (prior knowledge, change in knowledge, and sociodemographics). Destination marketing and management implications are provided.     

Ecotourism experiences reported online: Classification of satisfaction attributes

This study proposed a quantitative method for evaluating ecotourism experiences reported online by U.S. travelers to Costa Rica. The user-generated content (UGC) used in this study was 373 reviews extracted from TripAdvisor^®. By applying the content analysis technique, 26 attributes that influence ecotourists’ satisfaction with their ecolodge stays were identified and further aggregated into seven categories: ecolodge settings, room, nature, service, food, location, and value for money. A two-step non-parametric statistical procedure was developed to quantitatively support the classification of attributes into satisfiers, dissatisfiers, criticals, and neutrals, the typology first proposed by Cadotte and Turgeon [(1988). Dissatisfiers and satisfiers: suggestions from consumer complaints and compliments. Journal of Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction and Complaining Behavior, 1(1), 74-79]. The proposed procedure is considered an original contribution of the article to the literature. The authors hope that the results from this study can be useful to ecolodge managers to evaluate performance in critical areas and develop strategies to maximize customer satisfaction through better utilization of limited resources.