Determinants of performance for agritourism farms: an alternative approach

Previous studies on determinants of agritourism farm performance are inconclusive. Moreover, the key success factors of high and low performance may differ. Differing from previous studies, this study applies quantile regression to identify the determinants of agritourism farm performance in different categories based on Taiwanese agritourism farms census data. The results indicate that large farms perform well for those in the high-performance categories. The quantity and quality of human resources are key success factors for mid- and high-performance farms. Additionally, agritourism business model generally plays a critical role in determining performance.     

Agritourism in the Arkansas delta byways: assessing the economic impacts

Large parts of rural USA are seeing gradual decline in economic fortunes. The small and medium scale farms are especially dwindling in numbers and their incomes are stagnating. Towards revitalizing the rural agrarian economies, agritourism is being seen as a catalyst to supplement income and trigger economic growth in some parts of the USA. This study focuses on a 15‐county region in the Arkansas Delta Byways (ADB) predominantly dependent on agriculture. The study uses agritourism visitor and expenditure data to estimate the baseline economic impacts in 2007 and predict potential impacts in 2012 on the region's economy. The study is conducted in two stages; the first stage involves statistical predictions of future agritourism visitors using time series extrapolation models. In the second stage, an input–output (I–O) framework is used to estimate the economic impacts relating to sales, employment, income and tax revenue to federal, state and local governments. Three alternate scenarios, where the agritourism visitors as a percentage of total visitors increases from the baseline level to hypothetical higher levels as a result of the state's agritourism promotion and initiatives are examined, and the net economic gain from additional visitors are estimated. Findings suggest that farms will benefit from increases in income but do not see any significant increase in jobs mainly due to the family nature of the enterprises. Economic benefits from on‐farm hunting far outstrip other agritourism activities and their impacts reverberate across many other sectors of the local economy. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Broadening the utilitarian epistemology of agritourism research through children and families

ABSTRACT

The genesis of agritourism is rooted in diversifying income for farmers, and accordingly, epistemological framing of agritourism research has focused on understanding the direct economic value of farm visits. The literature has identified multiple measures of tourism values and we propose that a similar broad epistemological perspective is needed to expand the analysis of the full spectrum of benefits that agritourism can provide to farmers and food systems. We describe the potential, yet unmeasured, benefits of agritourism and propose to empirically examine the educational and marketing potential of agritourism through building agricultural literacy among young visitors and encouraging family-level support of local food systems. We offer this as one example of how to expand of the epistemological approach to agritourism research, which will allow for a more holistic account of its benefits.     

The ‘Blogosphere’ as a platform for interpretative phenomenological analysis: the case of TEFL tourism

The use of the Internet is becoming increasingly integral to the day-to-day operations of society, facilitating an interconnected and globalised world, where geographic barriers are no longer a defining criteria for communication. This opens the researcher up to a realm of research opportunities, which to-date have been under-exploited. This paper contributes to the wider body of literature addressing the concept of Online research, demonstrating in practice how it can be utilised in the context of interpretative phenomenological analysis. It is argued that netnography is akin to interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) in that it accounts for an individual’s personal perception or account of an event or state, as opposed to attempting to produce an objective record. This paper outlines how blog analysis can be utilised in the context of IPA, demonstrating how this worked in practice during the initial exploratory research phase of the teaching English as a foreign language tourism phenomenon.     

The role of agritourism in heritage preservation

This study examined the linkage between agritourism and heritage preservation by assessing the occurrence of and farmers' motivations for preserving tangible heritage in their farmlands. Results show that agritourism farmers are preserving tangible heritage in their farmlands, mainly driven by intrinsic motives. Farmland, farmer, and agritourism attributes are significantly associated with motivations driving heritage preservation. Study results suggest that although agritourism appears to be an adequate tool to preserve tangible heritage, farmers are missing the opportunity to economically gain from these resources, which may jeopardise the sustainability of their conservation efforts. This study not only advances the incipient understanding of the agritourism?heritage link, but identifies additional issues of this relationship that need to be investigated further.     

Assessing the economic value of a public birdwatching interpretative service using a contingent valuation method

Although resource interpretative services are an essential conservation management tool that can add value to ecotourism experiences, there has been little empirical investigation on the ‘true’ economic value of such services. As such, this study's objective is to estimate the economic value of public interpretative services at a publicly supported Korean birdwatching festival, using a dichotomous choice contingent valuation method. Logit estimation results indicate that bid, age, income and birdwatching experience are important factors in explaining willingness‐to‐pay for interpretative services. The mean value of the publicly supported interpretative services is estimated to be 4,961 South Korean Won (approximately US$5) per person. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Comparison Between First‐timers and Repeaters for Relationship Marketing Implications

This research note examines how different relationships affect visitors' tourism experiences at agritourism encounters, recognizing the differences between repeaters and first‐timers from a relationship marketing perspective. Results from a survey of 431 visitors to farms in Texas found that most of relationships with service providers, other customers and companions were important but differently related to satisfaction. By examining the differences and similarities between first‐timers and repeaters, this study suggests that visitors' relationships not only with service providers but also with other customers and companions should be embraced into the components of relationship marketing models in tourism. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effects of landscape fascination on subjective well-being and revisit intention: Evidence from agritourism destinations

This study adopted the reasonable person model (RPM) in the context of agritourism to identify tourists' preferences for features of agricultural landscapes; to examine the effects of agritourism landscape's fascination on subjective well-being and destination attachment, which in turn influence tourists' loyal behaviors; and to investigate the moderating effects of farm types. The quantitative and qualitative approaches were combined to obtain 1118 usable samples. The results validated the RPM by identifying the predictive power of landscape fascination, subjective well-being, and destination attachment on tourists' destination loyalty. Managerial implications for enhancing visitors' retentions in Taiwan were discussed.     

Modelling tourism flows through gravity models: a quantile regression approach

Gravity models are widely used to study tourism flows. The peculiarities of the segmented international demand for agritourism in Italy are examined by means of a novel approach: a panel data quantile regression. We characterize the international demand for Italian agritourism with a large data set, by considering data of 33 countries of origin, from 1998 to 2010. Distance and income are the major determinants, but we also found that mutual agreements and high urbanization rates in countries of origin are associated with larger flows of incoming tourists.     

Constructing human activity spaces: A new approach incorporating complex urban activity-travel

Activity space represents an important concept for understanding human activity-travel. The existing activity space delineation approaches are limited in fully characterizing real-world travel behaviors. To address the issue, this research proposes a new time geography based approach to more accurately portray activity spaces of urban travelers. The proposed approach takes into account the full complexity of real-world travel and underlying urban structures. Results of an empirical study are presented based on the 2008 Add-on National Household Travel Survey conducted in Tucson, Arizona. Activity spaces of 1164 sample travelers are delineated and analyzed. Results show the effectiveness of the new approach in more realistically depicting urban activity-travel.     

Agritourism networks: empirical evidence from two case studies in Greece

This study investigates the characteristics of informal agritourism-related networks within destinations with the help of social network analysis by measuring macro and meso structural aspects of networks in two tourist destinations in Greece with different geographic characteristics: an island-Lesvos (in North Eastern Aegean) and a continental locality-Plastiras Lake (central part of Greece). The main objective is to illustrate and discuss quantitative and qualitative aspects of these networks with selected actors who are linked (directly or indirectly) with the agritourism sector through personal in-depth and semi-structured interviews. The quantitative aspects include: quantity of links, spatial extent of networks, type of relationship, its “thickness”, the duration of the relationship, issues of seasonality as well as satisfaction of the cooperation. The qualitative aspects include the type of relationship of the actors over the link and who (if anyone) has “control” over this relationship. The main findings indicate that the examined networks are partially affected by the geographic characteristics of the case studies and they are very similar in terms of absolute numbers and network metrics. Although research on networks has been an emerging and promising approach, qualitative characteristics of informal networks seem to be integral for understanding networks and planning tourism policies.     

Carlessness in a car‐centric world: A reconstructive approach to qualitative mobility biographies research

Social-scientific investigations into the changing dynamics of mobility practices across the life course hold considerable potential for understanding how the growing dominance of an unsustainable, largely car-based mobility culture manifests itself within individuals' biographies. Moreover, capturing the interplay between structure and agency that unfolds within these mobility biographies can shed light on both opportunities and drawbacks for sustainability transitions in the transport sector. Mobility biographies research has thus gained considerable momentum internationally. To date, much of this work has deployed quantitative approaches to record and analyse broader life-course related trends. Moreover, there has been a strong focus on the impact of specific life events such as childbirth or residential relocation on mobility practices of individuals and households. Examples of qualitative investigations of individuals' mobility biographies have frequently deployed cross-case comparisons that rest upon linear and realist conceptualisations of the life course. In contrast, narrative-interpretative inquiries into the meaning and complexity of mobility biographies remain scarce. This paper examines key conceptual and methodological aspects of a qualitative inquiry into voluntary carlessness across the life course. This is supplemented with an analysis of biographical interviews from the Vienna region in Austria that shows how individuals attach meaning to their deliberate departure from the dominant car culture. Building on these research experiences, the paper argues for a novel reconstructive approach to qualitative mobility biographies research that allows a deeper understanding of the biographical embeddedness of mobility practices.     

Visitors' and locals' experiences of Rotorua,New Zealand: an interpretative study using photographs of landscapes and Q method

This paper reports on an interpretative study of locals' and visitors' experiences in Rotorua, New Zealand and shows how experiences vary among different groups. Photographs were Q sorted by a non‐random sample of locals and both overseas and New Zealand visitors, and the data were factor analysed to identify four factors or types of experience. These include experiences of Sublime Nature, Iconic Tourism, New Zealand Family and the Picturesque Landscape. These findings show that Q sort with photographs is a useful research approach which advances our understanding of destination image and provides results that have implications for the contemporary theoretical debate on the nature of tourist experience in New Zealand. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Port-hinterland concept evolution: A critical review

Hinterland transport connectivity is being acknowledged as the second most important factor driving port competitiveness after port costs. Deepening the existing understanding on how the port-hinterland concept has evolved over time, as a result of disruptive changes on trade and transport, can provide a solid basis for ports to enhance their hinterland intelligence, and thus devise better informed and more effective hinterland development strategies. The main aim of the paper is therefore to provide a comprehensive and critical review of port-hinterland related research. It starts from early approaches introduced at the beginning of the previous century. It proceeds to the late 1960s, when containerization significantly transformed port-hinterland networks, and continues till today examining contemporary port-hinterland relationships. The latter have driven the transition from distance-decay to more functional approaches for port-hinterland analysis, within which the role of distance still remains valid but valued differently and within a broader context, where a number of additional parameters are also taken into consideration. With hinterland network dynamics playing now a more important role than the individual performance of ports, forward-thinking approaches need to benefit from enhanced extended and regional network intelligence, deepening the understanding and facilitating the timely evaluation of network impacts resulting from new business trends and models, market developments and innovative technology adoption, which are now taking place a lot faster than before.     

Enclave tourism versus agritourism: the economic debate

The approaches to tourism development vary in different settings. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the conversation on the relative economic advantages of enclave and agritourism in a small island context. This study explicitly discusses these two forms of tourism in the island of Mauritius where tourism is a key pillar of the local economy. This study uses a novel format where stakeholder perspectives are reviewed based on a simulated debate between two sets of advocates. The debate arguments rely on a grounded methodology where in-depth interviews were conducted to gather the opinions of three substantial groups of stakeholders: notably, government officials, business interests and local community members. The multi-faceted arguments are built on the identified local concerns and perspectives and provide a forum for the voices of diverse participants from the tourism world of Mauritius. The format offers a rich, realistic set of arguments exploring the economic merits of both forms of tourism in a specific setting. Five main themes influence the economic support for tourism development: certainty of tourism income, scale of tourism development, employment, regional disparity and the challenge of change.     

Including the Outsiders: The Contribution of Guides to Integrated Heritage Tourism Management in Cusco,Southern Peru

Over the last decade many archaeological sites in Peru have become important tourist attractions. However, despite the growth in tourism, visitor management and interpretation at the sites are limited and, at times, non-existent. The mainstay of interpretative supply in Peru is the tour guide, and three types of guide were identified in this research: those with university degrees, others with vocational training, and untrained 'local guides' from the local indigenous population living near the archaeological sites. All three types of guide were present at the Cusco region case study sites of Raqchi and Ollantaytambo. Recommendations focus on ways that local guides could be brought into the tourist system to enable their participation, both economic and social, in the tourism developing on their doorstep.     

Antecedents and consequences of passenger satisfaction with the airport

There is a growing interest in the passenger experience at the airport. Particularly, the relevance of passenger satisfaction has been emphasized. However, although different research approaches have been used, there is still a gap related to understanding the several relationships between aspects associated with passenger satisfaction with the airport. In this study, a comprehensive conceptual model, which includes the relationships between key antecedents and consequences of passenger satisfaction, was developed and examined. Using structural equation modeling analysis, several findings concerning passenger expectations, airport service quality, switching costs for changing airports, and passenger loyalty towards the airport are stressed.     

Moving on from Joint Management Policy Regimes in Australian National Parks

Joint management regimes in Australia are seeing an increasing focus on cross-cultural approaches to management of national parks. This has brought under scrutiny the eurocentric approaches to park management that exclude the rights and perspectives of indigenous Australians. The history of our parks appears to have been built on policy that is not only exclusionary but stems from a hegemonic approach to management. With an increasing focus on natural resource and cultural tourism (often referred to as ecotourism) within Australia, it is time to address the issues that are fundamental to the provision of policy for this area of park management. Pressure from tourism can have significant impacts upon the natural and cultural resources of national parks, and thus on the local aboriginal community itself. Policies formulated within the framework of ecotourism principles, supported with social science research in the community studies area, are ideally suited to application within the joint management framework. These policies facilitate a cross-cultural flow of information and thus promote a development of the cross-cultural understanding that is vital to the resolution and progress of joint management. It would seem that policy directions founded on the principles of ecotourism and the facilitation of community ownership and control of tourism and the associated resource are being overlooked or treated in politically expedient ways as a means of appeasing legal requirements at both a management and political level.     

Developing a geocollaboratory for Indigenous tourism research

Collaboratories have been defined as virtual places where collaborative research can be undertaken. As part of the Aboriginal Tourism Network (ABORINET), a geocollaboratory was developed to support Indigenous tourism research. Indigenous communities are culturally distinct and remotely located and this presents geographic and sociocultural constraints when conducting research on issues affecting these communities. ABORINET's development focused on the specific goal of enabling collaboration between researchers and Indigenous peoples on issues related to Indigenous tourism planning and management, and the general issue of enabling the sharing of differing knowledge and management approaches among research and Indigenous communities. The purpose was to develop a multi-scale and multi-method data collection and analysis protocol for better understanding Indigenous tourism in a way that supports multi-site and longitudinal comparisons, for connecting Indigenous communities across the world, and for sharing the results in ways that are meaningful to stakeholders within and beyond Indigenous communities. This paper outlines the development of the geocollaboratory and describes the lessons learned with specific attention afforded the geographical nature of the collaboratory. Recommendations for mitigating challenges are proposed and future research opportunities are identified.     

What’s in the black box? Evaluating anti-poverty tourism interventions utilizing theory of change

Increasing interest in poverty alleviation at the beginning of twenty-first century has facilitated the rapid growth of various anti-poverty tourism interventions (ATIs) around the globe. The tourism–poverty alleviation link, however, is still not well established, partly due to a paucity of appropriate evaluation approaches that are capable of simultaneously providing researchers, practitioners and policy-makers with a deeper understanding of an ATI’s mechanisms, the complexity surrounding its operational processes and evidence of its impacts. Additionally, ATI stakeholders’ values and influences play a significant role in ATI evaluation yet their perspectives are often overlooked. Theory of Change (ToC) has the potential to generate a holistic picture of an ATI, as this innovative approach has been developed to connect stakeholders’ theories of context with the mechanisms and outcomes of an intervention. Utilizing a case study of microfinance tourism in Vietnam, this paper provides readers with insight into ToC and proposes a conceptual framework which guides the application of ToC to facilitate the effective evaluation of ATIs.