ASEAN’s intra-regional tourism demand to Thailand

This paper presents an overview of intra-regional tourism in ASEAN at the beginning of the challenging times that will come with the constitution of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). Thailand is chosen as the destination country and the other nine countries are selected as origin. After presenting ASEAN’s intra-regional tourism, the study develops a model of long-run demand. The coefficients are estimated by a time-varying parameters method considering the potential presence of structural breaks, and its implication. The results present and discuss the implications of income, own price, and cross price elasticities. As concluding recommendations, this study suggests that while the region should take advantage of the expansion of the Asian markets due to economic growth and liberalization of ASEAN since 2016, it should use different policies in each origin market.     

Residential tourism and eudaimonic well-being: A ‘value-adding’ analysis

This study aims to explore the linkage between residential tourism and eudaimonic well-being. A “value-adding” approach is applied to this analysis with an extended interpretation. Residential tourism involves a prolonged stay in a destination and thus can lead to fundamental changes in environment, lifestyle, social networks, and values. Residential tourist experience is found to have profound impacts on individuals' eudaimonic well-being in the eight aspects of autonomy, environmental mastery, personal growth, purpose in life, the extension of youth, positive relations with others, self-acceptance, and inner peace. This study advances Ryff's (1989) eudaimonic well-being model and contributes to tourism and mobility research. Implications for residential tourists and destination managers are also provided.     

Analysing stakeholders’ perceptions of golf-course-based tourism: A proposal for developing sustainable tourism projects

Social interpretations of the impact of development on territories differ according to the socio-political positions of different actors, and especially depending on the degree of power wielded by each actor. These interpretations should be taken into account if the governance of development projects is to be improved, and with it, the sustainability of tourist projects in general. This paper examines a range of stakeholders' perceptions of the impacts of a golf-based tourism development in the south-west of Spain. A mixed methodology is used to analyse the results, highlighting the significance of a social impact assessment. Our findings confirm two differing discourses, one corresponding to influential actors and the other to non-influential, showing unequal degrees of variety and complexity in their argumentation and a clearly distinct capacity for shaping the local socio-environment. Our conclusions indicate that the impact of tourism development is perceived differently in line with stakeholders’ socio-political positions.     

The matter of pride: positioning one’s self in tourism inquiry

ABSTRACT

This article proposes a broader investigation of pride within tourism contexts, presenting it as an important concept for the enhancement of interpersonal understanding and cross-cultural empathy in tourism research and education, and also as a valuable emotion for teachers, students, and researchers to explore within themselves. Pride is applied here in the consideration of why certain research topics may be overlooked within tourism studies, and as an illustration of the benefits of utilizing qualitative, constructivist research and pedagogical approaches that incorporate methodologies of reflexivity and subjectivity. Through this exploration of pride, the author promotes interdisciplinary approaches of inquiry, with a focus on the utility of philosophy for students and scholars alike, toward deepening understandings of both self and other.     

A meta-analytic review of antecedents of hospitality and tourism firms’ performance: A cross-cultural comparison

Despite the magnitude of scholarly understanding of firm performance, there has been no robust statistical meta-analytic review of antecedents of firm performance in hospitality and tourism journals. Therefore, this study conducted Hunter-Schmidt random-effects meta-analyses on the relationships between firm performance and its predictors based on Kaplan and Norton's balanced scorecard framework. This study identified fourteen antecedents of firm performance, and all proposed relationships were significant. This study also examined the moderating role of culture on the relationships at continental- and national-approaches by adopting sample z-tests and meta-regression. This study found the moderating role of culture on seven relationships at the continental-level comparison and identified corresponding cultural dimensions responsible for the degree of the relationships. This study expanded the literature on firm performance and contributed to strategic and financial management literature. Based on findings, the authors presented several important practical implications.     

A spatial–temporal analysis of hotels in urban tourism destination

This study investigates the spatial associations of urban tourism phenomena by using GIS and statistical methods to examine the relationships between hotels and land use types, attractions, transportation facilities, and the economic variables of the tertiary planning units in which the hotels are located. Hong Kong is used as an example. The study first introduces the spatial characteristics of hotels and attractions development in Hong Kong. A geographical information system is then used to map hotels and investigate the characteristics of the land use, attractions, and transport facilities around hotels. The spatial relationships are then analyzed with a set of logistic regression models. The results reveal that commercial land type and the number of attractions around hotels are significantly related to the distribution of upper-grade hotels in Hong Kong. The determinants vary over time and the spatial structure changes accordingly. The analysis is important theoretically as it enriches the methodologies for analyzing the relationships between hotels and urban structure, and for conceptualizing and identifying tourism functional zones. It is important for practitioners as it provides useful information for selecting sites for hotels.     

Women’s mountaineering tourism: an empirical investigation of its theoretical constraint dimensions

The purpose of this study is to investigate the perceived constraints on participating in mountaineering tourism faced by women, and to empirically verify the dimensionality of those constraints. Survey responses from 314 female mountaineers were collected and four constraint dimensions were identified using confirmatory factor analysis. Three of these dimensions: ‘intra-personal’, ‘inter-personal’ and ‘structural’ constraints support earlier findings in the extant literature, both in general and in the adventure literature more specifically. The identification of a fourth dimension relating to ‘family’ constraints represents a theoretical contribution to the literature and an additional barrier to women’s participation in mountaineering tourism. In previous studies, ‘family’ constraints have typically been subsumed within ‘inter-personal’ or ‘intra-personal’ constraints, but have emerged as a distinctly separate constraint category for women in relation to this particular tourist activity. The findings also have important implications for adventure tourism management practice.     

Halal tourism: antecedent of tourist’s satisfaction and word of mouth (WOM)

The concept of Halal tourism has emerged recently in research. It becomes an important factor in determining the satisfaction of tourists or their loyalty. However, this concept is still not well known; thus, it needs to be developed in certain areas. The research was conducted to see the link between the attributes of Halal tourism (i.e. Islamic facility, Halalness, general Islamic morality, and alcohol drinks- and gambling-free), satisfaction of tourists and word of mouth (WOM). The respondents of the research were 345 derived from 5 municipals in West Sumatera, Indonesia. The research used structural equation model. The result of the research shows that the attributes of Halal tourism have significant impacts on satisfaction of tourists and WOM. There is no significant direct relationship between the attributes of Halal tourism and WOM. However, the satisfaction of tourists is significant as the mediator. Furthermore, some limitations and future research are discussed.     

Thailand wine tourism: a dream or a reality?

Conventionally, wine tourism is mainly popular in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the Europe regions. Interestingly, Thailand, despite being a young wine-producing country, has emerged as a potential wine tourism provider within the Southeast Asia regions. This research aimed to evaluate the competitiveness of Thailand wine tourism’s within its regional growth. Porter’s Four Diamond Model was used as a tool to assess this industry competitiveness. Three wineries in Thailand were visited and qualitative approaches comprising interview and observation were utilized as the means of data collection. Triangulation was used to analyze the reliability of the data gathered. The finding showed that wine tourism in Thailand was still an infant industry as most tourists and tourism operators were still not aware of the product offered. However, the wineries themselves had already owned the competency to serve the market.     

Politics and tourism promotion: Hong Kong’s myth making

By using “crisis of identity” as background, this study analyses how post-colonial Hong Kong relies on myths that are grounded in its complex, centuries-old socio-cultural political heritage to convey through tourism an identity different and separate from that of China. This qualitative inquiry, which relies on both online and printed promotional documents reinforced by primary data collected through in-depth interviews, proposes an explanation of the symbolic representation of tourism through four sequential myths. The article concludes that Hong Kong exploits its colonial past to create an identity that enhances its “local Chineseness” with a Western flavor and positions the territory to assume an increasingly hybrid identity to avoid being just another Chinese city.     

The summer of the Spirits: Spiritual tourism to America’s foremost village of spirit mediums

The historic Spiritualist village of Lily Dale, New York, is a popular summer tourist destination in America, attracting approximately 20,000 visitors per year. This research argues that many of these visitors are “spiritual seekers”. Spiritual seeking is an important movement in the west. To date, however, there has been insufficient attention paid to the specific places in which this spiritual questing is undertaken. This research uses the concept of spiritual tourism to understand the summer journey to this part of America. Drawing on a range of ethnographic data, it finds that affective destinations play an irreducible part of many people's spiritual lives; it may only be through travel to dedicated places that seekers’ aspirations can be fully realized.     

The dynamics of tourism’s carbon footprint in Beijing,China

Abstract

Beijing is an important hub for global tourism, but the extent of tourism’s contribution to Beijing’s carbon footprint remains unclear. We integrated an environmentally extended multiregional input–output model and the tourism satellite account in a study to estimate the dynamics of Beijing’s tourism-related carbon footprint in the post-financial crisis period. Our findings indicate that from 2007 to 2012, whereas the carbon footprint of inbound tourists in Beijing steadily decreased, that of domestic tourists increased. The composition of carbon footprints for the consumption activities of inbound and domestic tourists differed substantially. We also traced the spatial distribution of carbon sources associated with tourism consumption in Beijing. In light of our findings, we offer recommendations to target the adoption of low-carbon consumption patterns by domestic tourists, and energy optimization of service suppliers by increasing energy use efficiency and the renewable energy ratio. In addition, we recommend that public and government should seek to lower energy costs and reduce carbon emissions throughout the life cycle of commodities. We conclude that the government and tourism authorities should actively promote carbon and wider environmental awareness, and that producers must seek to improve the efficiency of their energy use by reducing carbon emissions at source.     

At once liberating and exclusionary? A Lefebvrean analysis of Gilda’s Club of Toronto

This study uses a Lefebvrean analysis to explore the ways social relations are negotiated and contested in the production of a quasi-recreational space called Gilda’s Club of Greater Toronto, a venue that provides complementary care and support to people living with cancer. It does so by asking how Gilda’s Club, as a social space, resists and/or reproduces the conflicts and challenges of care for people living with cancer. Drawing on the work of Henri Lefebvre to guide the analysis, qualitative data collected from 26 club members were used to examine the production of the club as a conceived, perceived and lived space. The findings underscore the insurgent and transformative possibilities of a social space like Gilda’s Club for people living with cancer, while also exposing the club as a site of discriminatory practices wherein marginalisation was produced and enforced. The complex tension between these contrasting practices is explored.     

Africa’s outbound tourism: An Almost Ideal Demand System perspective

While African outbound tourism represents 3% of international tourism, the continent is experiencing high economic growth rates, contributing to a fast-growing middle-class and a large potential market for international travel. This article analyses African outbound travel to all other continents from an Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS) perspective. Both static and dynamic AIDS are estimated and the resulting elasticities indicate that: (i) African tourism to all continents is a normal good, although Africa and Oceania can be considered luxury destinations; (ii) Asia and North America are the most price elastic destinations, and price increases in these continents will lead to substitution to Europe and Africa; (iii) there is persistence in African arrivals to North and South America.     

A Formative Approach to Modeling Residents’ Perceived Impacts of Casino Development

This study uses a formative modeling approach rather than the more common reflective modeling approach to operationalize residents’ perceived benefits/costs. Partial least square structural equation modeling was adopted to model the predicting effects of perceived benefits/costs on residents’ support for casino development. Additionally, the mediating role of satisfaction with life was examined. Drawing from a survey administered to 1047 Macao residents, this study reveals that only perceived economic and environmental benefits affect support for casino development. The mediating effect is not confirmed. Meaningful implications are provided for policymakers and casino operators.