‘Pull’ motivation: an activity-based typology of international visitors to New Zealand

Using the push and pull framework, this study examines the relationship between tourist activities in New Zealand and behaviours such as tourist spending, travel style (group vs. independent travel) and length of stay. Data from the International Visitor Survey were analysed for a 19-year period (1997–2015). The findings, based on 62,288 respondents, identified 9 typologies of international visitors over this period. For example, type one visitors are primarily pulled by the nature-based activities offered in New Zealand while type two is pulled by adventure activities. Some of the typologies have activities that overlap reflecting the needs of international visitors. Significant relationships were found between the nine typologies, tourist spending, travel style and length of stay. Implications for destination marketing purposes are highlighted.     

The effect of authenticity on visitors’ expenditure at cultural events

The main aim of this study is to analyse the influence of the perceived authenticity of cultural events and their products on shopping expenditure. The quantitative analysis is based on 1275 self-administered questionnaires collected among event attendees in three different Northern Italian Christmas Markets in 2008. In order to estimate separately the determinants of the propensity of respondents to shop and how much money they are willing to spend for each kind of purchase, we have adopted a double-hurdle model. The results show that tourists are more likely to spend and that they do spend more if they consider the event and the products sold to be authentic. This study also reveals that socio-demographic factors and visit motives are interrelated with authenticity perception and together affect the amount of personal expenditures during the event. Finally, some implications of the study are discussed.     

In search of heterotopia? Motivations of visitors to an English cathedral

This paper explores visitor motivations at an English cathedral, and the role that heterotopia plays in their motives. More than a third of visitors to Chichester Cathedral appear to be motivated by a subconscious search for a spiritual experience, hidden by rational motives such as interest in history. It concludes by examining the management implications that arise from a potential lack of understanding about visitors' motivations. Cathedral managers should acknowledge their visitors' intrinsic sense of spirituality and recognise their spiritual motivations through interpretation, which should encourage them to explore their personal narratives around the emotional dimension of visiting a cathedral. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

‘All that jazz’: the relationship between music festival visitors’ motives and behavioural intentions

ABSTRACT

This exploratory study investigated the relationship between visitors’ behavioural intentions (ex-post) and their motives (ex-ante) for attending a jazz festival. The aim was to discover whether a music festival brings additional intangible benefits. The research followed a quantitative approach by conducting a visitor survey at the Cape Town International Jazz Festival in South Africa. Structural Equation Modelling showed that music festivals have the potential to create benefits beyond the festival itself or the host destination, particularly fostering an appreciation of a music genre, increasing purchasing of music, and boosting music tourism. The findings showed that a music festival could have far-reaching benefits that can contribute to its legacy. It also showed that visitors’ motives have a unique relationship with their behavioural intentions, which emphasizes the need to market the festival accordingly.     

Formation of festival visitors’ environmentally friendly attitudes: cognitive,affective, and conative components

This study aims to understand the formation of festival visitors’ environmentally friendly attitudes. Results reveal that environmental knowledge and concern influence environmental emotion, which, in turn, affects four environmentally friendly behavioural intentions. Results also show that environmentally friendly tourism behavioural intention is most influenced by environmental emotion. The findings offer a new framework for theory development on environmentally friendly behavioural intention as well as important practical implications for festival marketing managers.     

Enhancing art gallery visitors’ learning experience using wearable augmented reality: generic learning outcomes perspective

The potential of Information and Communication Technology-enhanced visitor learning experience is increasing with the advancement of new and emerging technologies in art gallery settings. However, studies on the visitor learning experience using wearable devices, and in particular, those investigating the effects of wearable augmented reality on the learning experience within cultural heritage tourism attractions are limited. Using the generic learning outcomes framework, this study aims to assess how the wearable augmented reality application enhances visitor’s learning experiences. Forty-four volunteers who were visiting an art gallery were divided into two groups, an experimental group and a control group. Following their visit to the gallery, the volunteers, who had and had not used wearable computing equipment, were interviewed, and the data were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings revealed that the wearable augmented reality application helps visitors to see connections between paintings and personalize their learning experience. However, there are some drawbacks such as lack of visitor–visitor engagement and the social acceptability.     

Integration of HSR and air transport: Understanding passengers’ preferences

Different solutions for the integration of high-speed rail (HSR) and air transport could be implemented, ranging from very basic integration to more sophisticated systems which include ticket and handling integration. A discrete choice experiment is conducted to better understand passengers’ preferences. We estimate a number of flexible choice models, taking into account the existence of systematic and random taste heterogeneity. We obtain a range of willingness-to-pay values for service quality attributes, finding some important results that can be used to infer policy conclusions about the real attractiveness of the Air–HSR integrated alternative. In this respect, we find that schedule coordination which reduces connecting time will be crucial.     

Identifying Croatian museums’ indigenous visitors in a post-war era: perceptual examinations of one's own heritage

The paper focuses on the consumption of the past by indigenous people through the museum or heritage site within post-war Croatia. Through the application of an inductive, qualitative methodology, ‘Critical Ethnography’, an integrated theory of individual identity formation, which is both social and psychological in nature, is presented. The paper, which is the culmination of theory building, has been guided by in-depth interviews, observation of behaviour and the incorporation of theoretically sensitising literature. As a result of reflexive integration of both the data and the literature, three categories, which constitute the developed theory are derived and analysed in relation to the different ways of constructing meaning and experiences within the museum/heritage context. The labels assigned to each of the developed categories, the ‘Fragmented self’, the ‘Paraphrenic self’ and the ‘Enlightened self’ are a reflection of a part of the self, which identifies to varying extents with the ascribed post-war identity of ‘Croat’. Furthermore, the three explanatory categories of behaviour look into the various ways with which the individual subject reflects upon and interprets his/her own past in relation to the formation of an acceptable post-war conception of his/her individual identity. The paper concludes that in order for a nation to project its cultural heritage worldwide through its museums and cultural sites, it needs first to understand and incorporate the indigenous’ views of their own heritage and then to develop and communicate cultural heritage products through other industries, such as tourism.     

Investigating travelers’ multi-impulse buying behavior in airport duty-free shopping for Chinese traveler: Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations

Airport duty-free shopping is becoming the most important source of revenue and profit. As airports provide a unique retailing environment that differs from the day-to-day distribution channels, observation of travelers' shopping behavior in airports shows that it is different from that in traditional retail store environments. Duty-free retailers at airports must recognize this specific shopping behavior to maximize their sales performance. We examine the relationship between two different types of impulse buying behaviors: cognitive and affective. We also study travelers' satisfaction/loyalty in the context of airport duty-free shopping using two moderators of this relationship: intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. Data were collected from outbound Chinese travelers, who represent the largest proportion of travelers worldwide, to identify implications for airport duty-free retailers. This study found a positive relationship between affective impulse buying behavior and travelers' satisfaction, an aspect that also generates loyalty in the context of airport duty-free shopping. Furthermore, travelers' extrinsic motivations moderate the negative relationship between affective impulse buying behavior and travelers' satisfaction. This study provides insights that airport duty-free retailers can utilize to motivate travelers’ consumption and enhance their satisfaction in duty-free shopping, thereby increasing consumer loyalty.     

Visitors’ diversified motivations and behavior – the case of the pilgrimage center in Krakow (Poland)

The article presents the visitors’ motivations and behavior at the pilgrimage center in Krakow (Poland). Here, the relation between these elements, i.e. whether their motivations have a correlation with what buildings they visit, is emphasized for the first time. The most important motivations for visits were religious and tourist ones, often rated equally high by the same respondents. They visited religious, cultural and tourist buildings and facilities. The stay of visitors with religious motivations was not limited to religious practices, but was extended by tourist behavior. Similarly, visitors with tourist motivations visited religious buildings and participated in religious practices. However, they visit tourist and cultural facilities more often. Additionally, the three groups of respondents were categorized and, on the basis of importance of the religious and tourist motivations, three types were distinguished, i.e. pilgrims, religious tourists and tourists. Their characteristic has been expanded by the analysis of their behavior. Nowadays, visitors’ motivations and behavior at pilgrimage centers include those typical for pilgrims and tourists in the traditional meaning. In addition to their religious function, these sites offer cultural and tourist facilities. The article highlights the dedifferentiation approach to visitors’ motivations and behavior, and in respect of the spatial organization of pilgrimage centers.     

Millenials’ intentions to book on Airbnb

ABSTRACT

The sharing economy has witnessed a significant growth in recent years, enhanced by the development of online platforms. In particular, Airbnb has witnessed a significant worldwide year-on-year growth. Given the importance and popularity of Airbnb, it is crucial to examine which factors affect intentions to book on this website. This study proposes and tests a model based on the Theory of Reasoned Action, to examine millennials’ determinants of intentions to book on Airbnb. Based on two online surveys targeting millennials from Germany and China, the results show that intentions to book on Airbnb is mostly influenced by subjective norm, desire for unique accommodation and variety, attitude and economic benefits. Surprisingly, economic benefits have the smallest effect. Perceived risk with the purchase channel was found to have no impact on intentions to book on Airbnb. Managerial implications and theoretical contributions are provided.     

Millennials’ travel motivations and desired activities within destinations: A comparative study of the US and the UK

Millennials are one of the largest groups to be targeted by tourism companies. This paper compares the travel motivations of Millennials from both the United States and the United Kingdom by ratings, rankings and perceptual structures of both push and pull factors. This exploratory study used a questionnaire to examine the inner motivations (e.g. push factors) and preferred destination activities (e.g. pull factors) of American and British Millennials (n?=?322). Data analysis included the non-parametric Mann–Whitney U test, Kendall’s coefficient of concordance, an alternating least-squares algorithm (ALSCAL) model and ordinal regression. The results reveal that American and British Millennials are quite homogeneous in their push travel motivations and destination activity preferences. The most important motivational factors for both are ‘to relax’ and ‘to escape from the ordinary’. Both nationalities also agree that the most attractive destination activities are ‘to try local food’ and ‘to go sightseeing’. The findings indicate that the US and UK samples are similar and that there is room for segmentation according to demographics.     

The inner struggle of visiting ‘dark tourism’ sites: examining the relationship between perceived constraints and motivations

Numerous conflicting factors impact the tourism decision process especially as it relates to dark tourism, that is, tourism that focuses on mortality. This research examines the relationships among constraints and motivational factors that affect tourists’ decision to visit the Memorial of the Victims of the Nanjing Massacre in China. Seven dimensions of constraints were revealed with the most important factor being an interest in other leisure activities. Of the three motivational factors discovered, the obligation the respondents feel to visit the site was discovered to be the most important. The major contribution of this research is its analysis of the relationship between motivations and constraints and the discovery that there are both positive and negative relationships between constraint and motivation factors. The most important finding may be that an increase in curiosity motivation may result in a decrease in disinterest constraints but an increase in the strength of the constraint of Chinese cultural perspectives on death and taboos. The findings suggest that the most effective marketing might not focus too much on the development of curiosity but on other motives, such as obligation and education.     

Understanding the residents’ social impact perceptions of an African Cultural Festival: the case of Macufe

ABSTRACT

The Macufe is one of the Africa’s largest cultural festivals, and takes place annually in Bloemfontein, South Africa. This 10-day event attracts approximately 140,000 attendees, meaning that the residents have to share facilities and services with tourists. The effects of such interactions can be both positive and negative. Community members are stakeholders in any tourism ventures that take place in their area, meaning that their goodwill is of utmost importance. Therefore, the social impacts of this event should be well managed to foster community support. For this reason, a quantitative study was done to determine residents’ social impact perceptions towards the event. A total of 425 questionnaires were completed by willing residents who lived in proximity to festival activities. From an exploratory factor analysis, four factors were extracted, namely community enhancement, community degradation, tourism growth and increased public spending and interaction. It was found that the event does not generate significant levels of positive social impacts, and that the negative social impacts are viewed almost equal to the positive social impacts. This was one of the first social impact perception studies done on an African arts festival, which contributes to the sustainable management of such crucial events.     

Investigating passengers’ intentions to use technology-based self check-in services

As more and more airlines have introduced technology-based self check-in services, it has become increasingly important to understand the factors affecting airline passengers’ attitudes toward this new form of check-in services and also their intentions, especially from Asian passengers’ perspectives. An empirical study was conducted among Taiwanese airline passengers using the technology acceptance model (TAM) as the basic research model while considering additional factors for further analysis such as external stimuli, perceived service quality, perceived behavioral control, need for service, and perceived risk. The findings revealed that attitude and external stimuli best explain passengers’ behavioral intentions to use the kiosks, whereas perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use have little effect on their intentions. These findings suggest that airlines in Taiwan should persuade passengers to acquire a more positive attitude toward the new check-in kiosks and should consider implementation of incentive strategies in encouraging passengers to adopt the self check-in service.     

Visitor Management in Protected Areas: From ‘Hard’ to ‘Soft’ Approaches?

Historically, visitor management in protected areas has been concerned largely with visitor impacts and emphasis has been placed on managing negative impacts. This has involved controlling visitor numbers, attempting to modify visitor behaviour and also modifying the resource. These approaches can be divided into ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ categories (Ling Kuo, 2002). ‘Hard’ visitor management approaches involve physical management, regulatory management and economic management. ‘Soft’ approaches make use of education and interpretation. While the approach of managing impacts has its merits, and has met with some success, it has tended to assume that the visitor is ‘guilty until proven innocent’ (Mason, 2002). Such an approach has also tended to ignore the role of visitor experience in relation to visitor management. This paper critically evaluates a number of ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ approaches to visitor management, focusing specifically on interpretation and codes of conduct in protected natural areas in New Zealand, Australia and Antarctica. It argues that the traditional approach of managing visitor impacts should be supported by a far greater emphasis on managing visitor experience. It proposes that placing emphasis on managing visitor experience should allow a more holistic perspective to be employed, in which the visitor can be put within a context that includes both the destination community and the environment visited. Such an approach, it is argued, should not only lead to better informed and behaved visitors, but a reduction in negative visitor impacts.     

Making plans or “just thinking about the trip”? Understanding people’s travel planning in practice

ICT solutions have been proposed as a means for changing environmentally unfavourable traffic behaviour by providing better, real-time and more accessible travel information. However, prevailing models of travel choice and travel behaviour tend to overemphasise the impact and importance of information and the individualistic perspective. The issue of choice and travel planning in everyday life situations, and how information is used and acted on in these processes, was examined in a qualitative study in Stockholm, Sweden. Practice Theory was used as the theoretical framework for the study. Interviews were supplemented with an explorative diary and photo assignment to bring unreflected choices and actions of planning travel to the conscious level.The results showed that travel planning involves the immediate situation where planning and decisions are made, but also aspirations, cognitive/time/material limitations, social norms and social relations that extend widely in time and space. Definitions of travel planning and travel information based on the situated practices of planning are suggested. In the muddle of everyday life, travel planning takes place in the brief moments where circumstances at different levels – time, place, the social realm - interact and are considered or directly acted upon. In the development of new ICT-based travel information services, the role of technology in changing normal practices should be considered.     

In search of the ‘good life’: Understanding online grocery shopping and everyday mobility as social practices

Online grocery shopping offers an alternative to everyday grocery shopping, which often requires car travel. A growing marketplace of online grocery shopping services enables distributors to control ‘the last mile’ by which products reach consumers. However, realising the energy-saving potential of online grocery shopping entails addressing several problems, as increased e-commerce does not necessarily mean decreased car use. Today, calculated potential energy savings are based on estimates and assumptions rather than on thorough knowledge of consumers and their preconditions for e-commerce. This paper is based on a survey of 19 households that regularly buy groceries online. Qualitative interviews combined with travel diaries enable discussion of the household members’ rationales, attitudes, expectations, and mobility practices. Online grocery shopping is considered here as a social practice that could contribute to a more sustainable mobility. In line with social practice theory, practices are understood as successful configurations of material, meaning, and competence that are also dependent on networks of other practices. This framing enables discussion of the likelihood that consumers will change mobility practices as an effect of online grocery shopping. The paper suggests that mobility practices results from constraining activities in everyday life, in which urban planning, norms of food and food purchasing, and the search for better quality of life are more decisive than is the practice of online shopping per se. This paper contributes empirically and theoretically to the study of mobility practices and discusses, from a user-centred perspective, the possibility of creating sustainable transport solutions.     

Understanding the changing Intangible Cultural Heritage in tourism commodification: the music players’ perspective from Lijiang,China

ABSTRACT

While Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) emerges as a new topic in the fields of heritage studies and tourism studies, the changeability of ICH in tourism commodification is still under-researched. The tension between protection and commodification of ICH is intensified when ICH is regarded as a heritage to protect and a resource for commodification, such as in the case of China. With a musical ICH element in Lijiang, China as the case, this paper applies a Critical Heritage Studies approach to investigate the values and components of ICH from the perspective of the music players. From both the diachronic and synchronic dimensions, the research shows that the players construct the values of their ICH in a subject, diverse and dynamic process. The less- and the more-commodified forms of performance are not clearly differentiated; rather, they are regarded as equally important to realise players’ dynamic and subjective needs. Provided practitioners can engage with their ICH freely, commodification can be seen as an indispensable form of the ICH-making process. This paper aims to reveal the dynamism of ICH, to rethink the commodification of ICH, and to rethink the relationship between the commodification and the making of ICH from a critical approach.     

Medical tourists’ emotional and cognitive response to credibility and Servicescape

While medical tourism has been an issue of increasing interest among scholars and practitioners, most studies are dedicated to understanding the factors of attraction that lead medical tourists to select a certain destination and treatment providers. In this vein, more studies are needed to understand medical tourists’ perceptions about medical facilities and staff, and repurchase intention formation. In order to contribute to bridging this gap, the current study aims to explore the effect of Servicescape (intrinsic cues) and credibility (extrinsic cues) on medical tourists’ emotion, perceived quality and image. The proposed model was tested in the medical tourism context in Portugal. The questionnaire was distributed to individuals who had stayed in a hospital devoted to medical tourism. A convenience sample of 332 usable questionnaires was employed to test the model. Findings reveal that ambience and design are the most important factors in formatting Servicescape itself. Servicescape and credibility are effective antecedents of customer image and pleasure-feeling. Credibility is more effective in enhancing pleasure-feeling and Servicescape in creating a favourable image. On the other hand, perceptions of quality do not contribute significantly to pleasure-feeling. Finally, the article also provides managerial implications and suggests avenues for further research.