How does family influence the travel constraints of solo travelers? Construct specification and scale development

ABSTRACT

Attracting the solo travel market is increasingly important for destination marketing organizations. Despite the wealth of literature on travel motivations of solo travelers, a related domain of research that deserves more attention are the travel constraints that could hinder solo traveling. More specifically, although solo travelers may wish to embark on a journey alone, they must nevertheless address a number of constraints that oftentimes stem from their family’s concerns for them as family represents a critical influencer that could impact their travel decision. Yet, research measuring the influence of family remains under-studied. In order to address this gap, this study connects knowledge on travel constraints with literature on family dynamics to develop a valid and reliable measurement scale for assessing family pressures on solo travelers. Destination marketers can apply this scale to evaluate the effectiveness of their marketing strategies at easing the concerns of solo travelers as a result of family pressures.     

To buy or not to buy? The effect of time scarcity and travel experience on tourists' impulse buying

By its very nature, tourism is a temporary experience. But how time scarcity makes an impact on tourists' impulse buying is still unclear. By looking into the role played by travel experience and overconfidence, this study explores the mechanism behind the influence of time scarcity on tourist impulse buying of local products through an integrated series of experiments together with a post-trip survey. The results show that the interaction between time scarcity and travel experience affects impulse buying. For tourists with rich travel experience, time scarcity increases their impulse buying, while for tourists with less travel experience, time scarcity decreases it. Overconfidence plays a mediating role in the effect of time scarcity and travel experience on tourists' impulse buying.     

New or repeat customers: How does physical environment influence their restaurant experience?

This study proposed a conceptual model to examine how customers’ perceptions of the physical environment influenced disconfirmation, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty for first-time and repeat customers in upscale restaurants. Using a structural equation modeling analysis, this study showed that facility aesthetics, lighting, layout, and service staff had significant effects on disconfirmation. Moreover, disconfirmation exerted a direct influence on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Customer satisfaction also positively influenced customer loyalty. Finally, the impacts of facility aesthetics, lighting, table settings, and service staff on disconfirmation significantly differed between first-time customers and repeat customers. More specifically, facility aesthetics, lighting, and service staff were significant predictors of both first timers’ and repeaters’ perceived disconfirmation, while layout and table settings were significant determinants of only repeat visitors’ perceived disconfirmation. The implications for academic researchers and marketing practitioners are discussed.     

How do hotels adapt their pricing strategies to macroeconomic factors?

The hospitality industry is naturally highly sensitive to subtle changes in the external environment, and its performance is affected by various external factors. Therefore, hoteliers should carefully monitor the various macroeconomic indicators affecting the market, when making important strategic management decisions. In particular, hotels’ pricing decisions are important because they play a crucial role in the determination of hotel revenue and in the process of profit maximization. In this paper we classify hotels by business model (i.e., chain management, franchise and independent) and analyze how these different types of hotels in Switzerland adapt their pricing strategies to macroeconomic factors (i.e., exchange rate, room supply and market demand). We find that hotels adopting different business models react differently to the same macro shock. Implications of our findings and future research directions are discussed.     

How do hotels choose their location? Evidence from hotels in Beijing

This study aims to investigate potential factors contributing to the hotel location choice by an ordered logit model incorporating both hotel and location characteristics. The results suggest that, star rating, years after opening, service diversification, ownership, agglomeration effect, public service infrastructure, road accessibility, subway accessibility, and accessibility to tourism sites are important determinants. By examining location models for different periods, different star rating levels, and different ownership, we show that, downscale hotels tend not to actively seek the benefits of agglomeration effects while upscale ones are more sensitive to accessibility. Finally, agglomeration effects are further investigated by looking into agglomeration heterogeneity, agglomeration scope, scale related and ownership related agglomeration, and agglomeration zoning.     

How do senior managers influence experience innovation? Insights from a hospitality marketplace

Pine and Gilmore garnered attention from both academics and practitioners when they introduced the experience economy paradigm (1998). Central to the authors’ work is the notion that experiences are distinct economic offerings – differentiated, co-created, and memorable – requiring continuous innovation to meet the needs of increasingly demanding and savvy consumers. The purpose of this study was to build upon the work of innovation researchers in business by examining innovation in an understudied context; the goal was to provide a back of the house view of innovation in organizations whose main economic offering is an experience. An exploratory sequential mixed methods study was conducted to examine the ways senior managers influence innovation at the business unit level and to test the relationships between specific leadership practices and innovation performance. Findings from executives in four segments of a hospitality marketplace suggest three organizational capacities – Connect, Energize, Refresh – are associated with continuous innovation of memorable experiences.     

What do customers expect of travel agent–customer interactions? Measuring and improving customer experience in interactions with travel agents

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to explore what customers expect of travel agent–customer interactions by developing a scale of customer service experience; further, a framework to demonstrate how to improve customer service experience derived from interactions with travel agents is proposed. The results indicate that the indirect effect of travel agent interpersonal competencies on word-of-mouth is not through cognitive customer service experience but rather through affective customer service experience. Also, the indirect effect of travel agent professional competencies on word-of-mouth is not through affective customer service experience but rather through cognitive customer service experience.     

How do tourists respond to meta-stereotypes? Understanding their willingness to interact,self-presentation and the role of power

Research into the stereotypes of tourists by locals and the impacts of these stereotypes on local behaviors is well established. However, how tourists respond to these stereotypes remains underdeveloped. This research offers a thorough understanding of the effects of meta-stereotypes on tourists by revealing whether being stereotyped affects tourist intentions to interact with locals and their self-presentation during these interactions. Two scenario-based experiments and a follow-up survey were conducted. Study 1 demonstrates that meta-stereotypes influence in different ways the willingness of tourists to interact with locals and how they present themselves to locals. Study 2 reveals that these effects are significantly moderated by the degree to which tourists hold power, with powerful tourists being more likely to behave in line with meta-stereotypes. Study 3 draws consistent conclusions with Study 1 and 2 in surveying 313 Mainland Chinese tourists. This research offers insights into tourist responses to meta-stereotypes and has implications for organizations seeking to enhance tourist-host relations.     

Afraid to travel after COVID-19? Self-protection,coping and resilience against pandemic ‘travel fear’

COVID-19 has generated an unprecedented level of public fear, likely impeding tourism industry recovery after the pandemic is over. This study explores what trigger the public's pandemic ‘travel fear’ and how people impose self-protection, coping and resilience related to travel. The study integrates theories including protection motivation theory, coping and resilience theories to address the research aim. Using a quota sampling, an online survey of 1208 respondents across mainland China was conducted. Results found that threat severity and susceptibility can cause ‘travel fear’, which leads to protection motivation and protective travel behaviors after the pandemic outbreak. Findings also revealed that ‘travel fear’ can evoke different coping strategies, which increases people's psychological resilience and adoption of cautious travel behaviors. Several strategies are provided on how to mitigate people's ‘travel fear’ and encourage travel in a post-COVID-19 world.     

How do lifestyle hospitality and tourism entrepreneurs manage their work-life balance?

This study uses border theory to explore how lifestyle hospitality and tourism entrepreneurs manage their work-life balance. This research utilizes in-depth interviews and observations from Dali and Lijiang, China. Three types of findings emerged. First, for lifestyle entrepreneurs, work and personal life are not divided; business is considered a style of living, not work. Second, lifestyle entrepreneurs’ boundary management tactics include temporal tactics, physical tactics, and psychological tactics. Third, the factors influencing the work-life balance of lifestyle entrepreneurs include personal factors and the contextual factors related to tourism destinations. This paper contributes to border theory by indicating how an individual’s psychological borders have a decisive effect on work-life balance perception, and how both the tourism and Chinese contexts moderate the psychological borders of work-life balance to some extent.     

How do hospitality entrepreneurs use their social networks to access resources? Evidence from the lifecycle of small hospitality enterprises

This study investigates entrepreneurs’ use of social networks to access resources during the conception, start-up, and consolidation stages of small enterprises in the hospitality industry in Sergipe State, Brazil. This study analyzes four cases of small hotel ventures, employing cross-case analyses to identify the patterns, similarities, and differences between the cases. The study findings highlight that, in the start-up stage, entrepreneurs access fewer resources, utilizing only family and friends, primarily as moral support. In the consolidation stage, entrepreneurs rely more on their weak links, accessing them with greater frequency. Mobilizing social networks is a dynamic process, and how entrepreneurs use these networks changes throughout the business-creation process. This is one of the first studies on how entrepreneurs use their social networks, especially in a developing economy.     

How do young Chinese friendship groups make travel decisions? A content and interaction process analysis

ABSTRACT

Young Chinese tourists form an increasingly important market and they tend to travel in small friendship or family groups. This study examines how young Chinese friendship groups (aged between 18 and 35 years) make travel decisions. Using the observation approach, this study observes the group travel decision-making process of 10 small groups. Issues such as activity, cost, travel timing, transportation, climate, safety, and distance, were found to determine destination choice. The role and function of verbal and non-verbal behaviors in influencing group decision-making were also investigated. This study contributes to both general group interaction literature and tourism literature.     

(Re)constructing the tourist experience? Editing experience and mediating memories of learning to dive

Abstract

Through an analysis of the mediative techniques involved in the production of videographic tourist memorabilia (specifically souvenir DVDs of learning to SCUBA dive), in this paper I seek to render visible the often unconsidered aspects of visual media production that result in not only visual images themselves, but also by extension, the construction of alternate realities of leisure space and tourist performance. A connectionist approach to the study of memory is advocated highlighting that mediatory technologies, whilst acting as stimulants for recollection, actually inform and construct memories rather than transmitting realistic snippets of past experience. In the paper, it is questioned whether ‘authenticity’ is a relevant frame of reference bearing in mind that the ‘post-tourist’ is often perfectly aware of the lack of authenticity in many tourist activities and happy to go along with a pretence. With this in mind, the paper concludes by stating that ‘reality’ is arguably being edited out of memories concerning tourism’s places and practices through the production of commercially driven and produced ‘souvenirs’. For the most part, the paper focuses on the experiences of young tourists between the ages of 18–25, the key demographic attracted to the field site in question.     

Are students customers? Tourism and hospitality students’ evaluation of their higher education experience

ABSTRACT

Research has suggested that higher education students assume multiple roles during their studies. Moreover, the student-as-customer model has been discussed for years and needs more in-depth discussions than other roles. Few studies have investigated education experiences from this perspective. This research contains two studies. Study one investigates faculty members’ perceptions on students’ roles in higher education and found students should not be considered purely as customers. Other roles were found. Study two investigates students’ perception of their roles in university education and how the education experiences influence their satisfaction towards university choice. A majority of the students see themselves as the “recipient of knowledge”. The six dimensions of higher education experience include “student-centred service” (SCS), “diversity and global citizenship” (DGC), “coproduction of learning experience”, “reliance on teachers” (ROT), “responsibility”, and “whole person development” (WPL). SCS, DGC, ROT, and WPL were found to have significant impact on student satisfaction.     

Vacation from work: A ‘ticket to creativity’?: The effects of recreational travel on cognitive flexibility and originality

Recreational travel may increase creativity by relieving workers from stress, providing diversifying experiences and increasing positive emotions. Consequently, vacations may boost creativity, apparent in a greater variety (flexibility) and originality of ideas after work resumption.In our longitudinal field study, creativity (measured by Guilford's Alternative Uses Task; independently scored by three raters) was assessed in 46 workers before and after vacation. Potential precursors for creativity changes (i.e. work load, vacation hassles, vacation destination and positive affect) were also explored.Cognitive flexibility increased whereas originality remained the same after vacation. None of the precursors explained variance in creativity changes.Although vacations seem to increase chances on creative insights by raising the amount of available cognitive elements (flexibility), they do not necessarily lead to higher levels of originality (uncommon, remote and clever ideas). Research in larger samples is required to further explore mechanisms that may explain why travel seems to enhance creativity.     

Infusing new insights: How do review novelty and inconsistency shape the usefulness of online travel reviews?

Review usefulness represents a vital indicator for evaluating the quality of online reviews in the tourism industry, and various heuristic cues have been recognized as determinants of this indicator. This study constructs a comprehensive conceptual framework based on the heuristic-systematic model to observe how two systematic cues, namely, review novelty and inconsistency, shape the perceived usefulness of reviews. Through an empirical analysis based on 1,744,693 reviews of 62,543 restaurants in the United States, we unveil a positive effect of review novelty on review usefulness but a negative effect of review inconsistency. We also underscore the moderating effects of several heuristic cues in the model, including review valence, reviewer expertise, and restaurant popularity. These results indicate that systematic and heuristic cues simultaneously and interactively determine review usefulness. The findings present theoretical implications to the literature and practical implications to hospitality professionals and designers/managers of review platforms.     

Motivation and satisfaction of marathon volunteers: How important is volunteers' level of running experience?

Special events such as marathons frequently depend on volunteers who may have various motivations for volunteering. The purpose of this study is to examine the motivations of volunteers of marathons, differences in motivation by demographics, level of running experience, and relationships with satisfaction. The results reveal differences in the love of sport volunteer motivation by the level of running experience. In addition, the level of running experience variable, which is unique in volunteer motivation studies, moderates the relationships between motivations and satisfaction, suggesting events such as marathons could benefit from recruiting volunteers who themselves participate in the event activity.     

Politics and sustainable tourism development – Can they co-exist? Voices from North Cyprus

This paper investigates ways in which political obstacles inhibit the formulation and implementation of sustainable tourism development in small-island developing states through the example of North Cyprus. The methodology draws on in-depth interviews and participant observation of significant actors in the tourism sector. The research findings suggest that understanding the intricate political system and power structure in a society is the key to understanding sustainable tourism policy development, planning and implementation. In the case of North Cyprus, policy development was found to be a product of political influence (referred to as ego-driven politics in the text), specifically the use of public resources as an instrument for political power, retention and that the politicisation of the public sector is the underlying cause of the weakened progress in sustainable tourism development. It is therefore essential to have a clear understanding of political issues, key political actors’ interests and how to mitigate personal interests to facilitate and maintain sustainable tourism development in such small states.     

How psychological and contextual factors contribute to travelers’ propensity to choose green hotels?

Despite the growing popularity of green hotels, there remains a dearth of research examining travelers’ intentions to choose green hotels. The study addresses this research gap by developing and testing an integrated model of green hotel behavior in an emerging market of India. We use a sequential approach of SEM and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis on 347 responses collected from Indian travelers to gain a more in-depth understanding of the role of biospheric value, green trust, willingness to pay premium, attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control in determining green hotel intentions. The findings show that presence of green trust is a significant and necessary condition for green hotel choice. Additionally, absence of willingness to pay premium, biospheric value, attitude, and subjective norm were found to deter travelers from choosing green hotels. These findings offer unique insights for managers in developing marketing strategies to enhance travelers’ green hotel adoption.     

Can community-based tourism contribute to sustainable development? Evidence from residents’ perceptions of the sustainability

In this paper, the research gaps in sustainable tourism development were addressed by examining residents' perceptions of the sustainability of community-based tourism based on tourism area life cycle theory. The survey questionnaire was distributed to the residents of six Taiwanese communities, and it was designed to determine the residents' perceptions of the economic, socio-cultural, environmental, and life satisfaction sustainability of tourism. In total, 849 usable questionnaires were collected. The analytical results further elucidated the sustainability of nature-based tourism and suggested that the economic, socio-cultural, and environmental sustainability varied significantly in the consolidation, development, and involvement stages of community-based tourism development. The four dimensions of sustainability were evaluated according to the pre- and post-development perceptions of tourism sustainability, and significantly different results were obtained. The study concludes that the residents’ perceptions differed across the developmental stages; thus, managers should consider the development opportunities and adopt appropriate strategies across different development stages.