Ph.D. Students' experiences and emotions in neoliberal tourism academia

Situated within the emerging social science literature contesting the diffusion of neoliberal ideologies into academia, this study explores the effects of neoliberalism (in the face of Covid-19 as well) on doctoral students. It employs a qualitative arts-based approach amalgamating aspects of autoethnography, ethnography, ethnodrama, and qualitative interviews to co-construct empirical material on Ph.D. students' experiences and emotions. In general, the discussions with the doctoral students portray a rather hostile tourism academy, characterized by unhealthy levels of competition, questionable supervisory practices, and quantitative measurements of output that discourage intellectual engagement and creativity. As such, tourism doctoral students often experience negative emotional experiences, such as fear and anxiety, which in some instances also lead to high levels of stress and depression. Overall, this work contributes to our understanding of the effects of neoliberalism on tourism academia by unveiling the multiple power structures tourism doctoral students have to face throughout their Ph.D. journeys.     

Stress and emotions at work: An adventure tourism guide's experiences

Little research has identified issues faced by tour guiding professionals and investigations of tour guide experiences have been neglected in favour of tourist experience and behaviour studies. Even less research has focused on adventure guiding experiences and potential sources of stress and emotions in this context. Studies that have investigated adventure guide experiences generally focused on guide–client interactions and sociological accounts of these experiences. Due to these gaps in the literature, and the recognised potential of psychological theories to enhance studies of stress and emotions in tourism settings, this study explored stress and emotions resulting from employer–guide interactions in an adventure tourism context from a psychological perspective. Longitudinal autoethnographical data was recorded during a river guiding season in South America. A reversal theory framework guided data analyses of key motivational states, sources of stress, and resulting emotions. Analyses identified potential transactional sources of stress and negative emotions for adventure tourism guides, and motivational states associated with stress and emotional outcomes in the employer–guide relationship. Results are discussed in relation to psychological theory and stress and coping research. Recommendations for practice, that could alleviate stressful experiences between employers and guides, are also discussed.     

Memorable tourism experiences and their consequences: An interaction ritual (IR) theory approach

Tourism experiences, memories thereof, and their consequences tend to be analysed separately, often focusing on the individual's perspective. This paper introduces Collins' (2004) interaction ritual (IR) theory to develop a micro-sociological interpretation of these phenomena as interconnected elements of IR chains. A longitudinal qualitative study of a multi-cultural festival held in Italy, the Mondiali Antirazzisti (Anti-racist World Cup), is used to show how emotional experiences and patterns of collective action are reproduced by the returning attendees in their home communities through the trans-local appropriation of the event's format. Findings lead to a revised model of IR chains to explain the trans-local dimension of transformational event tourism. The implications for wider application of IR theory within tourism are discussed.     

Psychological factors affecting memorable tourism experiences

This study tries to explore psychological components of memorable tourist experience (MTE) that are most likely to recall tourists’ memories. Urban residents from three representative cities in China were selected as research samples, and totally 301 usable questionnaires were used for data analysis. The results showed that the recollection of MTE was positively affected by novelty, involvement and social interaction. It was also suggested that hedonism and novelty had positive effects on the vividness of MTEs significantly. Additionally, in the context of Chinese culture, two new psychological factors, social interaction and perceived serendipity, resulted in different effects on the MTE.     

Designing tourism experiences for inner transformation

To address tourism's challenges, a transformation of consciousness of all stakeholders is necessary. This article examines how outer journeys can transformation our inner consciousness, leading to awakening or enlightenment. When awakened, the individual not only experiences inner peace and freedom, a sense of flow, transcendence of the small self, connection with something greater, but also a desire to contribute to the greater good. It suggests that tourism scenarios involving deep human connectivity, deep environmental connectivity, self-inquiry and engaged contribution or some combination of these four scenarios can shift human consciousness. Within these scenarios, peak transformational moments can be designed to give glimpses or create persistent shifts in consciousness. Implications for the holistic development of destinations are discussed.     

Audience involvement and film tourism experiences: Emotional places, emotional experiences

This study attempted to investigate the extent to which audience involvement or engagement with a serialised TV drama affects their actual on-site film tourism experiences at its former filmed locations. As an empirical study, an on-site survey was conducted at Daejanggeum Theme Park, the main filmed location of Jewel in the Palace, known in Korean as Daejanggeum, in Yangjoo, South Korea. The results indicated that audience’s emotional and behavioural involvement was the main driver that positively affected their on-site film tourism experiences. Cognitively oriented audience involvement including cognitive interaction and critical reflection, however, was not considered as one of the major vehicles to construct and influence audience viewing experiences and their subsequent on-site film tourism experiences. The results also identified that the more emotional involvement audience develops through viewing the TV drama, the greater the likelihood of them visiting film tourism locations.     

Virtual reality tourism experiences: Addiction and isolation

This qualitative research note reports two neglected themes in research on virtual reality tourism experiences, i.e. its potentially addictive nature and temporary sense of isolation. Existing work on virtual reality tourism experiences has applied existing knowledge and theories and has solely tested how VR applications can positively mediate or moderate the tourist experience. This study adopted an inductive approach, analyzing contents of reviews and blogs, and consequently uncovered a temporary sense of isolation and the addictive nature of virtual reality as hidden themes within virtual reality tourism experiences. We stress the importance of further work on addiction and a sense of isolation in terms of their nature, role, and effects.     

A framework of memory management and tourism experiences

This research first develops a conceptual model to link relevant concepts in psychology and tourism research to each stage of the long-term memory (LTM) system. It combines insights from mindfulness, positive affect, and quality of conscious experience to understand how tourists encode information; research in short-term memory and working memory as well as social identity to address the consolidation of information; and concepts of remembering, false memory, and storytelling to highlight information retrieval. Next, focus groups were conducted to examine how practitioners are helping tourists encode, consolidate, and retrieve their memories in the context of this model (Study 1). Finally, in-depth interviews were conducted to complement the practitioner’s perspective by reflecting the tourist’s voice that is relevant in each stage of the LTM system (Study 2). Overall, this research connects findings from the practitioner’s viewpoint with the tourist’s voice to present a framework of memory management and tourism experiences.     

Motivations for sharing tourism experiences through social media

Social media are increasingly relevant as part of tourism practices affecting destinations and businesses. Based on a destination-specific survey, this study charts and explores summer holidaymakers' motivations for social media contributions and their willingness to share content through various social media. The findings in relation to the much-visited destination of Mallorca offer an understanding of the adoption of tourist social media in technologically-advanced markets with high levels of ICT use. The results provide insights into such motivational factors as personal and community-related benefits as well as the social capital that influences a sharing of user-generated content. The study reveals a dominance of visual content, along with the relevance of altruistic and community-related motivations and motivational differences between types of content creators. Sharing practices through social media appear as valuable articulations of sociability and emotional support, while having lesser relevance as information sources for holiday decision-making. The paper additionally shows the extent to which old and new technologies overlap and complement each other.     

Role of trust,emotions and event attachment on residents' attitudes toward tourism

This study examines the effects of residents' trust in government and their emotions toward an event on their perceptions of potential impacts and their support. This study also examines the moderating role of event attachment on the strength of relationships between residents' trust in government and their impacts perceptions, emotional responses, and as well as their support based on social exchange theory and cognitive appraisal theory. Findings clearly indicate that residents' support is a function of both cognitive and affective assessment of perceived impacts. Trust in government influences directly residents' support and indirectly through perceived impacts and experienced emotions toward an event. Findings further suggest that level of event attachment moderates the effects of trust on residents’ perceptions of impacts, their emotions, as well as on their support.     

Business models for active outdoor sport event tourism experiences

This paper aims to propose business models for different outdoor sport tourism experiences, based on insights from active sport event participants and sport event organisers. The proposed business models are integrated into a single framework suitable for future usage by academics and practitioners. To design the business models, empirical examination was conducted in three phases, followed by the integration and interpretation of the results. Results imply that active outdoor sport event tourists are not homogenous regarding their motivations and that ‘Moderate recreationists’, ‘Nature lovers’ and ‘Enthusiasts’ differ in terms of their preferences for distinct business model elements. Event organisers have identified several other business model elements as being important. The proposed framework, as an integration of the results gathered from the perspectives of active outdoor sport event participants and event organisers, provides a better understanding of the business model concept in general and sport event tourism in particular.     

Holidays with my horse: Human-horse relationships and multispecies tourism experiences

More people are choosing to include their ‘pets’ and companion animals in their holidays, but provision for and understanding of nonhuman travellers remain limited. Multispecies tourism provides opportunity for the creation of rich, personally meaningful experiences that are key to satisfaction, but also has potential for producing stress and disappointment. The limited field of multispecies tourism tends to focus on dogs, whereas this paper considers some of the different issues raised when humans and horses holiday together. Auto/ethnographic vignettes of human-horse partnerships ‘on holiday’ are used to consider questions of interspecies trust and relationships as enacted through tourism, and to reflect on some of the complexities and contradictions inherent in these practices. These tourism activities prompt consideration of what makes a ‘good’ holiday and for whom, as well as some of the power relations inherent in multispecies tourism.     

Theoretical linkages between well-being and tourism: The case of self-determination theory and spiritual tourism

Self-determination theory (SDT) offers a robust and globally adopted evidence-based foundation from which explorations of increasingly popular forms of travel, like spiritual tourism, can be analyzed for their potential contributions to well-being. This paper draws on SDT to examine outcomes of well-being within spiritual tourism. It draws on autoethnography, a thick data approach to qualitative inquiry, which allows for the emergence of experiential and self-reflective processes engendered by forms of travel like spiritual tourism. The autoethnographic narrative is based on the author's spiritual tourism experience at a yoga/meditation retreat in Rishikesh, India. The narrative is transcended through theory-based linkages to broader social phenomena (i.e., well-being, SDT), by so doing, the legacy of theoretical development, characteristic of interpretive inquiry, is sustained.     

Tourists' support for conservation messages and sustainable management practices in wildlife tourism experiences

A common justification for developing wildlife tourism attractions is that they help to secure long-term conservation of wildlife and wildlife habitats. Managers and guides often highlight their role in protecting wildlife and its habitat, yet little is known about the interests, needs and preferences of the tourists who participate in such activities – how aware are they of conservation issues; how concerned are they about the environmental impacts their visit may cause; do they expect and accept the conservation messages they receive? This research explores the perceptions, preferences and conservation awareness of tourists visiting the Mon Repos Conservation Park in Queensland, Australia. Comparison data from four other sites are also presented in order to provide a wider context for interpreting the data. The findings suggest that wildlife tourism management practices that enlist tourists as conservation partners, communicate the reasons behind any constraints imposed, and present a consistent message regarding interactions with wildlife, are likely to be most successful in meeting the needs of both tourists and wildlife.     

Unpacking visitors' experiences at dark tourism sites of natural disasters

Visiting post-natural disaster sites has been burgeoning in recent years. Dark tourism at those settings has been utilised as part of relief and recovery strategies after natural disasters. This research, undertaken at four post-natural disaster sites, explores the onsite experience of 196 participants using semi-structured interviews and participant-generated photos. Findings indicate that experiencing a disaster context could be cognitive, emotional, introspective, sensory, relational and hedonic. Some experience dimensions, such as introspective and relational experiences, might help illuminate the value of promoting dark tourism at natural disasters. Experience discrepancy across multiple cases indicates the heterogeneity and malleability of visitors' experiences in the context. By depicting lived experiences of tourists, this study contributes to the understanding of the ways through which dark tourism sites at natural disasters are experienced and constructed as well as provides practical insights into tourist experience creation.     

Emerging bicycle tourism and the theory of planned behavior

In this study, we investigated the process of travelers’ decision formation for bicycle touring as a form of sustainable tourism activity. We extended the theory of planned behavior (TPB), using personal norm and past behavior as predictors and the attractiveness of unsustainable alternatives as a moderator. Results of the modeling comparison showed that our extended TPB model was superior to the original TPB in predicting intention. Our results from the structural analysis revealed that the hypothesized paths linking attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, personal norm, and intention were supported; and personal norm significantly mediated the impact of subjective norm on intention. Moreover, our proposition that bicycle travelers’ decision-making process would differ based on their level of the attractiveness of unsustainable alternatives was generally supported. Overall, our results help us clearly understand the role of volitional and non-volitional processes, personal norm, past behavior, and the attractiveness of unsustainable alternatives in explaining the intention formation of bike traveling.     

Models in tourism planning: Towards integration of theory and practice

A discussion of the nature of tourism planning suggests the need for a new model of the planning process. With this purpose in mind the nature and role of models are discussed, followed by a survey of models of a theoretical and planning nature in the tourism literature. Based on systems theory, a model is presented which shows how planning and theory can be integrated. An area–tourism planning example is developed to illustrate application of the integrated approach.