Effects of ethnic restaurant experience on prospective tourist intentions: Mediating role of food image

Study examines the ethnic restaurant experiences' unique outcomes to determine whether they extend to prospective tourism experiences. To further understanding of the ethnic restaurant experience's effects, the experience's influence on perceptions of a destination's food image and mediation effect of this image between the experience and tourist intentions are also examined. Uncertainty reduction theory and cultural loss concept offered a suitable theoretical background for formulating the hypotheses. The sample comprises 387 ethnic restaurant diners in Antalya, Turkey. Hypotheses are tested using PLS-SEM with the hierarchical component modelling approach. Findings help to identify ethnic restaurants' consumer as potential gastronomy tourists since they have desires to taste ethnic food in its original place, where it is called local. Favourable ethnic restaurant experience also provides useful informational inputs for forming food image to reduce perceived risks and to decide whether it is worth visiting the destination from which the ethnic restaurant originates.     

The framework of tourism : Towards a definition of tourism, tourist, and the tourist industry

Leiper, Neil, “The Framework of Tourism: Towards a Definition of Tourism, Tourist, and the Tourist Industry,” Annals of Tourism Research, 1979, VI(4):390–407. A framework for the general study of tourism is discussed. Three approaches to the topic: economic, technical, and holistic are identified and analysed; it is argued that its multi facets require a holistic definition. A systems methodology is used to develop a new definition of tourism. Five elements are isolated: tourists, three geographical elements (generating region, transit route, and destination region), and a tourist industry. The process of tourism is dissected to show that it is inherently a partially-industrialized one, and the tourist industry is shown to contain several sectors with functional and spatial connections across the system. Suggested applications of the framework are proposed, in academic research, education, business and government arenas of tourism. The main theme is that tourism's many facets are connected and that it is both possible and desirable to include an explicit recognition of those connections in general studies of the subject.

Résumé

Leiper, Neil, “Le Cadre théorique du tourisme: Pour une définition du tourisme, du touriste, et de l'industrie touristique,” Annals of Tourism Research, octobre/decembre 1979, VI(4):390–407. On discute un cadre théorique pour l'étude générale du tourisme. On présente et analyse trois façons d'aborder le sujet: économique, technique et globale, et on propose que l'aspect multi-dimensionnel du tourisme du tourisme fait que le tourisme exige une définition globale. On emploie une méthodologie de systémes pour développer une nouvelle définition pour le tourisme. On réussit á isoler cinq éléments: touristes, industrie touristique, région génératrice, route de passage, et région de destination, ces trois derniers formant les éléments géographiques. On disséque le processus du tourisme pour montrer qu'il est fondamentalement mi-industrialisé. On montre que l'industrie touristique comprend plusieurs secteurs, avec des liaisons fonctionnelles et spatiales á travers le systéme. On propose des applications de ce cadre dans les domaines suivants du tourisme: recherche universitaire, éducation, affaires et gouvernement. Enfin, la thése de cet article est que les divers aspects du tourisme sont reliés et qu'il est á la fois possible et désirable de reconnaître ces liaisons d'une facon explicite dans les études générales du sujet.     

Culinary tourism as living history: staging,tourist performance and perceptions of authenticity in a Thai cooking school

This study examined how a cooking school in Thailand acted as a site of living history in its staging and touristic experience of authenticity. The cooking school was one of the oldest, most visited and most comprehensively “staged” cooking schools in Bangkok. Research focused on understanding: (a) the nature of spatial and temporal staging of authenticity in the school, (b) tourists’ perceptions of authenticity and (c) parallels between the cooking school and living heritage sites. Findings showed that the cooking school was carefully designed to transport tourists from the heterogeneous tourist spaces of present-day Bangkok to the idealized, enclavic space of an imagined Thai culinary past. Tourists took on multiple roles, had rich sensory experiences, felt a sense of play and space–time transcendence, and revelled in close social relations with hosts and other tourists. These factors allowed them to experience multiple forms of both modernist and post-modernist authenticity. In its scenography, interpretative performance, narrative and rituals, the cooking school did indeed resemble a living history site. However, the school made no particular claim to expertise in Thai history, place or culinary culture, and tended more towards touristic entertainment, and less towards accurate historical and cultural visitor education.     

Bringing the past to life: Co-creating tourism experiences in historic house tourist attractions

This ethnographic study concentrates on the co-creation of experiential value between the tourist and tour guide in a single historic tourism site; Huntingdon Castle, Ireland. Built upon the principles of service dominant logic, the research explores how storytelling acts as an engagement platform and value enhancing strategic resource. In doing so, it impels the value co-creation journey and shapes the tourist's experience. Observation is coupled with qualitative interviews to capture the dual perspective of both guides and tourists. Findings exhibit the co-creation process through the performance of stories; how and when people derive pleasure (value); the influencing aspects of the environment or place; and guide/tourist perspectives on how they feel and think during the experience. The research contributes by taking a practical operational view of how co-creation occurs. It goes beyond the guide's perspective and exhibits the importance of co-creation of lived experience in the story enhanced tourism experience framework.     

Natural soundscapes and tourist loyalty to nature-based tourism destinations: the mediating effect of tourist satisfaction

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of natural soundscapes on tourist behaviors in a nature-based tourism destination. A behavioral model depicting the relationship among tourist attitudes to natural soundscapes, natural soundscape image, tourist satisfaction, and loyalty is examined using structural equation model and bootstrapping analysis. Results indicate that tourist attitudes directly affect natural soundscape image but do not affect tourist satisfaction and loyalty. The natural soundscape image directly affects tourist satisfaction and indirectly affects tourist loyalty when mediated by tourist satisfaction. Positioning natural soundscapes as a novel tourism attractor, theoretical and managerial implications are presented.     

Grant-aided tourism projects and employment creation—experiences of the english tourist board

Employment creation is an important consideration in grant-aiding tourism projects. Drawing on the results of 140 tourism projects that were given English Tourist Board support, this article evaluates their performance by comparing promised employment to jobs actually created and analyses the forecasting errors.     

Food tourist segmentation: Attitude,behavioral intentions and travel planning behavior based on food involvement and motivation

This study assessed attitudes, intentions, and travel planning behavior for potential food tourists. Using two-step cluster analysis, respondents were segmented into three groups based on food involvement and motivation. These clusters had high, moderate, and low food involvement and motivation levels, respectively. Findings suggest moderate motivation and involvement food tourists are the largest group, but high motivation and involvement food tourists should be pursued by practitioners. They have the most positive attitudes and strongest intentions to consume local cuisine. Further, high motivation and involvement food tourists are most likely to select a destination based on the availability of food-related activities.     

Reciprocal effect of tourist destinations on the strength of national tourism brands

The assignment of a brand to a product affects consumer's perceptions not only about the product, but also about the brand itself. The reciprocal effect of the product on its brand can be either positive or negative. Extending the concept of reciprocal effect to a new context, this study analyzed how consumer's perceptions about tourist destinations can affect the national tourism brand. An experiment showed that destinations leading to attitudes that are more positive than the average can strengthen the national tourism brand, while destinations leading to attitudes below the average can weaken it. Brand dilution can happen even when the outcome is effective from the destination's perspective. Because of the reciprocal effect, the determination of public policies in the destination level is usually inefficient from the country's perspective. These results reinforce the need for national brand governance.     

The perceived value of the rural tourism stay and its effect on rural tourist behaviour

Rural tourism (RT) constitutes a valuable tool for the sustainable development of rural areas. This paper explores issues of tourist motivation in RT and develops a specially tailored perceived value (PV) scale for the RT sector. Special attention is given to links between tourists’ motivations, perceived values, and the service and actions by RT providers leading to the sustainability of rural life, culture, economies and environment. Following a literature review, qualitative and quantitative surveys developed a 27-item scale, exploring both the functional and the affective components of the scale. Seven research hypotheses were then tested by quantitative survey work. It was proven that the activities undertaken by the rural enterprise leading to greater rural sustainability are reflected in the PV scale through higher levels of satisfaction and loyalty of the rural tourists. The results of the study reveal that the RT sector has specific characteristics that tourists greatly value and that other specialist tourist markets cannot offer, as highlighted in the contribution made by RT enterprises to rural sustainability. This knowledge can help tailor product development and destination design to suit specific demands and influence communication and promotional activities.     

Destination image and tourist behavioural intentions: A meta-analysis

This article aims to understand the relationship between destination image and tourist’s behavioural intention. In this study, we used a meta-analysis to synthesize the effects of destination image from 87 studies. The results reveal that destination image plays significant role in predicting tourist’s intentional behaviour, in different magnitudes. To be more precise, overall and affective images have the greatest impact on behavioural intention, followed by cognitive image. Of the different dimensions of behavioural intentions, destination image has the greatest impact on intention to recommend. Implications are provided for destination management and tourism researchers based on meta-analysis.     

Mindful tourist experiences: A Buddhist perspective

This paper distinguishes between the concepts of socio-cognitive mindfulness applied in a number of tourism studies and meditative mindfulness derived from a Buddhist philosophy. An operational definition of meditative mindful tourist experiences is proposed based on forty-three semi-structured interviews involving 77 episodes of meditative mindful experiences. The paper also proposes a framework of meditative mindfulness in tourism. The framework identifies a number of antecedents to meditative mindful experience episodes and reveals several psychological and physical benefits including mental ease and response flexibility. This is the first paper to examine meditative mindful tourist experiences in tourism contexts and to explore their antecedents and consequences.     

The BRAND tourism effect on loyal customer experiences in luxury hotel: The moderating role of psychological ownership

This study applies brand tourism effect to examine the loyal customers' different attitudinal responses caused by two types of non-loyal customers (i.e., brand immigrants and brand tourists) in the luxury hotel industry. The study also investigates the moderating role of psychological ownership on brand tourism effect. Conducting a 2 (types of non-loyal customers) * 2 (psychological ownership) experimental design, the results show that the loyal customers perceive brand tourists more favorably, and their disappointment is the most significantly different emotional response. In addition, the result also finds the moderating effect to be significant, indicating that in a lounge, loyal customers view brand tourists more positively than in restaurant. Lastly, the study also discusses theoretical and practical implications.     

Eudaimonic tourist experiences: the case of flamenco

In recent years, participation in flamenco, as a cultural art form, has gained momentum within Spain and internationally. Engagement in flamenco music and dance workshops in Spain has also become an increasingly significant tourism activity. Despite this trend, little research has looked into the nature of leisure experiences of flamenco. This paper seeks to address this knowledge gap by exploring how tourists experience flamenco music and dance courses in the city of Seville. Through a grounded theory research strategy in which in-depth interviews were conducted with 20 participants, the study reveals that four key themes characterise tourists’ experiences of flamenco. These are: the social and physical environment, which refers to physical flamenco spaces in Seville and tourists’ interactions with instructors and peers; secondly, the experience of challenge, characterised by hardship and sacrifice in the pursuit of flamenco; thirdly, activation of the sensual body or a sense of arousal; and lastly, an intrinsic and deep desire for self-discovery. The study demonstrates that the flamenco tourist experience strongly contributes to self-realisation and fulfilment of those who engage in it, or in other words, that the flamenco tourist experience is eudaimonic in character. The interview findings were linked to literature on self-realisation, self-fulfilment, true self, stress-related growth and related eudaimonic themes. Eudaimonia, or a sense of personal expressiveness and self-realisation, has not been previously established in this context. Therefore, the research findings provide a theoretical understanding of what a eudaimonic tourist experience of dance and music may look like.     

Exploring religious tourist experiences in Jerusalem: The intersection of Abrahamic religions

By considering the importance of religious tourism for travel and the tourism industry, this study aims to identify religious tourists' experiences in Jerusalem, as one of the most important holy cities. By a survey, 848 data were collected from the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religious tourists. Results showed that religious tourism experience was a multi-faceted construct, which consists of engaging mentally, discovering new things, interacting & belonging, connecting spiritually & emotionally, and relaxing & finding peace dimensions. By using these dimensions, perceived experience differences of tourists were examined depending on religion. Moreover, religious tourism experience was identified to significantly affect overall tourist satisfaction with Jerusalem. The study concluded with discussion of the findings and their implications.     

The role of food service in tourist satisfaction

The paper is based on empirical investigation carried out amongst a 341-sample population visiting the Black Sea resorts of Romania in August 1997. The purpose of the study was to investigate the role and importance of food service in tourist satisfaction and to note any differences in satisfaction levels between regional groups. Analysis of the findings revealed that significant differences existed between three tourist groups’ satisfaction perceptions of value for money, quality of food, number of dishes, standard of food service, variety of dishes, presentation of food and speed of service in general; and of bread, coffee, meat and soup in particular. Overall results further indicated that quality of food, value for money, variety of dishes, attractiveness of surroundings and presentation of food were the attributes that most affected the overall food service experience in Romania. The paper concludes that food service is an important contributor to tourist satisfaction and that there are significant differences in satisfaction levels with food service between eastern and western European, and Romanian tourists.     

Photo elicitation: Exploring tourist experiences with researcher-found images

This article provides an example of how researcher found-images have been used in a study where the tourist experience of intangible heritage is at the center. In this research, images were triangulated with in-depth interviews and participant observation in an attempt to flesh out the more intimate aspects of tourism experiences. It is suggested that photo elicitation, in its various forms, presents a fun, creative and multi-sensory alternative to conventional techniques. In this study, the use of researcher-found images in interviews proved to be a valuable tool to research tourist embodied experiences. While images offer many weighty advantages, some limitations do exist. Not only researcher-found images may introduce some positive bias into how informants recollect and present their experiences, but they may also lack the narrative power that visual materials assembled by research participants may have.     

Football tourist trips: a new analytic for tourism studies

This article explores the significance of touristic trips by European football fans. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork with supporters of the Turkish team Beşiktaş, I argue that journeys to watch sides play constitute an ‘exceptional habit’, a ritualised shot of unorthodoxy that provides structure for other practices of football support. These trips are characterized by bodily practices less common in everyday life, such as mass imitation, fighting and drinking to excess. Yet examining fans' home lives also shows how they draw on exceptional practices to prepare for and memorialise the away match experience. Tracking both everyday and exceptional aspects of football support helps rebalance tourism studies: away from disproportionate focus on the touristic moment to considering its interpolation with everyday life.     

Dental tourism: Examining tourist profiles,motivation and satisfaction

Despite the overwhelming interest in medical tourism research, knowledge in dental tourism, which is its subspecialty, remains limited. This study is the first to measure tourist profiles, travel motivation and satisfaction among inbound dental tourists in Malaysia. We purposely sampled twelve selected private dental clinics in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Melaka and Penang; and distributed the questionnaires to their inbound dental tourists. A total of 196 inbound tourists responded to the questionnaire, mainly from Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Europe. In order of importance, the main motivation factors were dental care quality, dental care information access, and cost-savings. Tourists were extremely satisfied with dental care services received in the country. While dental care quality, dental care information access and supporting services positively influenced tourist satisfaction; cost-savings and cultural similarities had negative influences. Based on the research findings, we propose some managerial and marketing recommendations.     

The effects of food-related personality traits on tourist food consumption motivations

This study explores the motivational dimensions underlying food consumption in tourism, and to examine the effects of two food-related personality traits, namely food neophobia and variety-seeking, on these motivational dimensions. A tourist food consumption motivational scale was developed and seven motivational dimensions were identified: novelty and variety, authentic experience and prestige, interpersonal and culture, price/value and assurance, health concern, familiarity and eating habit, and sensory and contextual pleasure. Both food neophobia and variety-seeking were found to have significant effects on various motivational dimensions. The implications of the findings for practice and future research are discussed.