The effect of climate change on the fall foliage vacation in China

Fall foliage season has been a favorite time for sightseeing activity for centuries around the world. The dates of fall foliage coloration for Acer mono maxim at two stations (Beijing and Xi'an) with more than 30 years of records were collected. Time-series analysis showed a strong overall delay of the timing of the fall foliage vacation season. The trend for later fall foliage vacation season averaged 4–5 days/decade. Regression analysis revealed that the air temperature in September or October is decisive for the annual timing of the fall foliage vacation season. A warming of 1 °C led to a delayed beginning, best date and the end of fall foliage vacation of 5.3 days, 3.5 days and 3.7 days respectively. The beginning of fall foliage vacation season started to delay in the 1990s. Sudden delay in the best date of fall foliage vacation season of Beijing and Xi'an took place in the early 2000s and 1990s respectively. For the end of fall foliage vacation season, an abrupt delay occurred in the early 2000s. This has implications for tourists and the tourism industry with reference to the timing of trips and their promotion.     

亚太地区野生生物旅游的可持续发展实践与挑战

野生动物旅游主要基于生物多样性热点地区和标志性物种进行。亚太地区的野生动物旅游已经很受欢迎,预计在新冠肺炎疫情之后还会继续发展。本文为野生动物旅游的可持续发展提供了一系列建议,讨论了在野外观赏野生动物的准则以及植物和真菌观赏的可能性。野生动物旅游的优秀实践标准包括有效的保护区管理、健全的环境政策、控制旅游人数的增长、管理过度拥挤、导游培训、关注动物福利和监测旅游对野生动物的影响等,野生动物旅游的适当推广和营销也需要加以考虑。野生动物旅游的主要挑战包括对大环境的保护不到位,对实现可持续发展要求的误解,以及公园管理者和旅游经营者对游客管理的不足。新冠肺炎疫情的出现为野生动物旅游的影响研究提供了一个契机,反思以前的野生动物旅游业务并在未来维持并改进野生动物旅游。     

Participant crowding and physical contact rates of whale shark tours on Isla Holbox,Mexico

Whale shark tourism is a growing niche market within the marine wildlife tourism sector. Increased visitation and declining whale shark numbers at some tourism sites worldwide raise questions over the long-term sustainability of this industry. This study examines the social and potential biological impacts of “swim-with” whale shark tourism on Isla Holbox, Mexico. A total of 397 tour participants completed a self-administered questionnaire regarding perceived crowding, reported encounters and encounter norms, as well as self-reported physical contact rates with whale sharks. Relatively high physical contact rates suggest that tourism may cause some harm to sharks. Users who encountered more swimmers than their norm felt significantly more crowded and were more likely to perceive the industry as having a negative impact on the sharks and surrounding environment. However, the results suggest that the number of boats in the whale shark viewing area may have a greater influence on crowding than number of swimmers. Management interventions to improve the sustainability of the industry include improved interpretation and guide intervention, achieving higher compliance with existing guidelines, and limiting the number of boats allowed in the whale shark viewing area.     

高速铁路影响下的全国旅游景点可达性研究

世界旅游强国离不开良好交通的支持,而作为交通中非常重要的高速铁路的快速发展,必将有力地促进区域旅游的发展。文章探讨了2020年全国高铁网络影响下旅游景点可达性空间格局及其变化,分析旅游目的地与客源地市场空间格局变化特征,在全国尺度下定量分析高速铁路建设对旅游客源地与目的地可达性的影响。测度2020年规划高铁通车前后旅游可达性空间格局与变化。结果显示:高铁开通后,高铁沿线城市可达景点数量显著增加;尤其是"日"字形高铁沿线城市与景点的增加值最高,将成为我国重要旅游经济带,高铁沿线城市与景点是高铁网络效应的主要受益者,高铁服务带来了时空压缩效应,即高铁的开通不仅缩短旅游客源地和目的地之间的时间距离、加强了两地之间的联系,也实现了旅游者跨区域的快速外部交通,而这种快捷效应的延续同样离不开城市内部交通网络的优化,缩短中心城市到旅游景区的时间,将会进一步增强景区的吸引力。     

Agglomerating or dispersing? Spatial effects of high-speed trains on regional tourism economies

Following the paradigm of New Economic Geography, this study examines the impact of high-speed train (HST) services on the spatial structure of regional tourism economies in China. We collect panel data of 286 Chinese cities from 2007 to 2016 and adopt tourism-revenue location quotients to measure the relative agglomeration level of tourism economies for a city. According to the estimation results, tourism economies tend to agglomerate from the cities outside the HST network to those inside the network. Also, tourism economies start to disperse among cities within the network as more HST services become available. Furthermore, the results unveil the spatial heterogeneity of HST impacts. The moderating effects exerted by other transport modes are examined as well. Lastly, implications are provided for policy-makers and stakeholders on how to internalize the benefits from HST networks on tourism development.     

Evaluation of the impact of the tourism nation promotion project on inbound tourists in Japan: a difference-in-differences approach

This study quantitatively evaluates the impact of the Tourism Nation Promotion Project on tourism demand. Data were obtained from Japan Tourism Agency’s quarterly survey from 2010Q2 to 2015Q4. Cox and zero-truncated negative binomial models and difference-in-differences approach were applied to analyze tourism demand and the project’s impact on inbound tourists’ length of stay and expenditure in Japan. Empirical results showed a positive and significant average treatment effect on length of stay and expenditure for tourists from Australia, China, Russia, and Thailand. These findings indicate that the Japanese government should use differentiated strategies considering different nationalities’ characteristics to attract foreign tourists.     

Examining Chinese College Students’ Intention to Travel to Japan Using the Extended Theory of Planned Behavior: Testing Destination Image and the Mediating Role of Travel Constraints

Understanding the decision-making process and predicting travel behavior are critical for destination tourism marketers. This study develops and tests a structural equation model using the extended Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to explain Chinese college students’ intention to travel to Japan. Ten hypotheses were proposed regarding the relationships between destination image, travel constraints, and the original TPB constructs. The results of structural analyses reveal that the extended TPB has better predictive power for travel intention to Japan than the original one. Attitude is found to have the greatest impact on intention to travel to Japan. The mediating role of travel constraints shows a significantly negative effect on the relationships between the predictors and travel intention except for the relationship between perceived behavioral control and travel intention. The results of this study can help improve marketing promotions and the development of more effective destination positioning strategies for Japanese inbound tourism.     

Regional policy and tourism: A quasi-natural experiment

China’s Western Development Strategy (WDS) has generated stark differences in policy environments for tourism development. Considering the WDS as a quasi-natural experiment, the paper applied an increasingly important regression discontinuity design method to tourism studies and explored the causal effect of the WDS on tourism by comparing treated and untreated cities proximal to the geographic boundary of the WDS. We prove that the WDS has caused a significantly positive effect on tourism development and is estimated to be up to 6% and vary from 5.9% to 6.7%. The mechanism analysis indicates that the WDS can affect tourism development through infrastructure construction and tax incentives.     

城市群旅游竞争力评价指标体系与测度方法探讨

文章从城市群整体及其内部城市单体两个角度构建了旅游竞争力评价指标体系,具体包括旅游业发展动力、旅游业发展水平、旅游影响、旅游经济联系、不同城市区域旅游贡献度等5方面指标,并确定了旅游竞争力状态空间评价方法与系统动力学动态测度方法,以期为城市群旅游竞争力评价及其变化趋势分析提供一定的研究方法与分析思路.     

高速铁路影响下京津冀城市旅游空间作用变化特征研究

本文通过对现有高铁和规划高铁两种情境下京津冀地区城市旅游空间相互作用的测算与比较,分析了高速铁路的建设对京津冀地区旅游空间相互作用的空间分布特征、变化幅度和空间差异的影响,并识别了不同城市的主要空间相互作用的联系方向。研究发现:高速铁路显著提升了城市旅游空间相互作用总量,缩小了空间差异。其中,唐山、张家口、承德3个城市获益最大,作为客源地产出作用的位序分别提升了3位、2位和2位,作为目的地接收作用的位序分别提升了3位、4位和4位,而衡水则排在全区最末位。高速铁路网络化运营后,张家口作为客源地产出的空间作用弱于作为目的地接收的空间作用,而秦皇岛作为目的地接收的空间作用小于作为客源地产出的空间作用,且北京、承德作为目的地的空间作用被高速铁路网络放大,而唐山则提高了作为客源地产出空间作用的能力。最后,本文提出,240分钟的旅行时间是城市间产生较强旅游空间作用力的重要分界线,并对京津冀地区在高铁网络化运营时代的旅游产业发展提出了相关建议。     

国际旅游科学研究新热点:全球气候变化对旅游业影响研究

伴随着全球气候变化科学研究的兴起,近年来全球气候变化对旅游业的影响逐渐成为国际旅游科学研究的新热点。本文划分了气候变化与旅游业研究阶段,按照响应—适应—缓解的系统流程,从全球气候变化对旅游目的地、旅游流、旅游者心理与行为、旅游产业系统的影响以及旅游活动对气候变化的缓解与适应等5个方面进行了综述。最后,总结归纳了国际气候变化对旅游业影响研究的一些基本特点,以期为我国在此领域的研究提供一些有益的启示。     

江西旅游规模差异及其位序规模体系分析

文章从经济地理学的角度出发,运用区域经济发展差异的相关指标,对江西省11个市(1997-2006年)国内、国际旅游收入进行分析.研究发现,江西省各市的国内、国际旅游经济相对差异的变化都呈下降趋势;但绝对差异的变化有所不同,国内绝对差异不断扩大,国际绝时差异表现不明显.为进一步揭示引起这种差异的原因,借用位序一规模分布理论研究该省的旅游规模规律,发现江西省各城市的国内、国际旅游规模符合住序规模分布,国内旅游规模由集中向分散均衡转变,国际旅游规模呈首位分布发展,但有集中发展的趋势.此外从影响江西旅游差异和规模的因素出发,提出了江西省各城市今后的旅游发展政策性参考意见.     

Polar Bear Viewers as Deep Ecotourists: How Specialised Are They?

Studies exploring the impact of environmental interpretation on visitors’ conservation knowledge, attitudes and behaviour often measure impacts as visitors exit tourism sites. For ease of measurement, their intentions are often used as indicators of behaviour change. Recent longitudinal studies suggest that intentions may be poor indicators of long-term behaviour change. This study examines both the behavioural intentions and the long-term conservation behaviour of 100 Australian families participating in a wildlife viewing experience. Respondents who reported being negatively or positively emotionally involved in the experience were more likely to indicate an intention to change their behaviour. New ideas about animals and their habitats were also significantly correlated with the development of positive behavioural intentions. Three months later, for 10 of the 13 conservation behaviours explored, the majority of respondents who intended to increase their participation did not. Implications for using intentions as an indicator of programme effectiveness are discussed. The importance of providing post-visit support that incorporates specific strategies, localised examples, petitions and activities to help visitors convert their intentions into behaviour prior to their enthusiasm waning is highlighted. Suggestions are made for more longitudinal studies in this area.     

Making ethnic tourism good for the poor

How can ethnic tourism alleviate rural poverty? Due to the difficulty of simultaneously expanding tourism while promoting pro-poor tourism, most villages traverse one of two developmental pathways: 1) ensuring an inclusive structure before expanding, or 2) expanding before building an inclusive structure. This study compares four comparable cases in Southwestern China to understand the politics behind the decision to choose different pathways, and the impact each pathways has on local residents. While the first pathway requires a careful balance to maintain a pro-poor structure as tourism volume expands, the second pathway presents apparently insurmountable barriers to poverty reduction due to the lack of political will to change the structures of successful tourism industries in ways that include the poor.     

The influence of high-speed rail on ice–snow tourism in northeastern China

Ice-snow tourism is trendy in the global tourism industry. High-speed rail improves the accessibility of these destinations. However, the influences of accessibility on regional economies are understudied. This study investigated changes in accessibility between urban areas and ice-snow tourist destinations after implementation of high-speed rail in northeastern China. Data on transportation networks, destinations, and economic factors were used to compute weighted mean travel times and daily accessibility, and a tourism-economy linkage model was utilized. After implementation, (1) the shortest intercity travel times were significantly shorter, (2) numbers of one-day and weekend trips significantly increased, (3) distribution of accessible tourist destinations expanded northward and southward, (4) isochrone analysis revealed that central cities promoted tourism development in nearby cities, and (5) intercity tourism-economy linkages increased. Accessibility to Shenyang was the most powerful influence on economic development. The tourism-economy linkages between Liaoyang and other cities were greatly enhanced between 2008 and 2018.     

Wildlife viewing: The impact of money-back guarantees

Wildlife sightings are not always guaranteed. To address this risk, tour operators often offer a money-back guarantee as a refund mechanism. However, studies have overlooked the influences of such refund mechanisms on tourists' tour participation decisions and tourism revenue. We conducted choice experiments to examine the impact of such mechanisms using a case of Amami rabbit tourism in Japan. We found that the guarantee significantly influences the tourists’ decision-making and tour revenue. In particular, we found that the expected tourist participation rate and tour guide revenue vary drastically depending on the probability of the rabbit encounter. The maximum expected revenue from the tour with a 90% chance was about 20 times larger than that with a 10% chance. This indicates that conserving wildlife to maintain the sighting probability raises tour benefits, creating a win-win situation by balancing conservation and tourism development.     

Autonomous vehicles and the future of urban tourism

Connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) have the potential to disrupt all industries tied to transport, including tourism. This conceptual paper breaks new ground by providing an in-depth imaginings approach to the potential future far-reaching implications of CAVs for urban tourism. Set against key debates in urban studies and urban tourism, we discuss the enchantments and apprehensions surrounding CAVs and how they may impact cities in terms of tourism transport mode use, spatial changes, tourism employment and the night-time visitor economy, leading to new socio-economic opportunities and a range of threats and inequities. We provide a concluding agenda that sets the foundation for a new research sub-field on CAVs and tourism, of relevance to urban planners, policymakers and the tourism industry.     

A panel data-based analysis of factors influencing market demand for Chinese outbound tourism

This paper presents data on the top 50 outbound destinations for Chinese tourists from 2002 to 2013. The total number of Chinese tourists traveling to these 50 destinations accounts for 95.38% of outbound travelers from China. We built a dynamic panel data model to measure factors that influence market demand for Chinese outbound tourism. The results show that economic variables such as income, tourism prices, and exchange rates have a significant influence on outbound tourism volume. The effect of bilateral goods trade and leisure time significantly differ between the full sample and the two subsamples, whereas political stability of the destinations and special incidents in China have no significant impact on demand for outbound tourism. Based on these findings, this study proposes strategies to strengthen the management of China’s outbound tourism market.     

Denying bogus skepticism in climate change and tourism research

This final response to the two climate change denial papers by Shani and Arad further highlights the inaccuracies, misinformation and errors in their commentaries. The obfuscation of scientific research and the consensus on anthropogenic climate change may have significant long-term negative consequences for better understanding the implications of climate change and climate policy for tourism and create confusion and delay in developing and implementing tourism sector responses.     

Human resources in tourism: Still waiting for change

This paper reviews key themes that impact on the role and management of human resources in tourism (primarily relating to work and employment) and assesses whether the past 20 years provides evidence of significant change within the sector. The paper considers the status of work in tourism and reflects upon the impact that key environmental developments have had upon employment—the practice of human resource management in contemporary tourism; the impact of global and social forces on perceptions of work and careers; the impact of ICT on work and employment in tourism; changing interpretations of skills within tourism; and the increasingly diverse nature of the tourism workforce in developed countries. Conclusions are drawn which point to a “hung jury” in considering whether change in the tourism workplace, over the review timeframe, has been ephemeral or more fundamental.