Perceptions of tourism products

The concept of the tourism product has been rooted in the minds of industry professionals as the industry has rapidly developed. Yet research into the tourism product and its constitution has not been a particular focus. Smith (1994) was one of the first, and remains one of the few, researchers to have decomposed the tourism product into basic elements. His five elements formed a single core and a series of four encapsulating shells. The study reported here first clarified the definition of tourism product and employed Smith's framework to analyze various tourism products in different tourism sectors. A student sample was used in a survey to rate the importance of five elements of tourism products. The results showed that the five elements were prevalent but that they differed in their importance for tourists across a variety of tourism products. Tangible physical plant was considered to be the most important component of nearly all tourism products. Finally, a new model of the tourism product is proposed here, and managerial priorities when creating sustained and satisfying tourist experiences are discussed.     

Exploring well-being as a tourism product resource

This study employs a qualitative research approach where focus groups (n = 11) with key stakeholders were used to understand how tourism investors view the concept of well-being in relation to tourism and the potential to use it as a tourism product resource. Findings validated by a wider group (n = 50) exposed the barriers and enablers of implementing well-being in this way. The potential for businesses and policymakers to transform these barriers into enablers was also identified. In addition, study findings were mapped onto a robust model extracted from the public health sector and applied in a tourism context using a systems theory approach. This further highlighted the potential offered to the fields of public health and tourism in the concept of well-being, and demonstrated the well-being value of tourism. Data from this research will aid tourism business practice and development by embedding a well-being philosophy for tourism destinations' strategies.     

Towards a geography of tourism

This paper traces the development of geographical interest in tourism during the past half century and examines the range and scope of the geography of tourism. The available literature is reviewed and suggestions are made regarding possible research aveneus and theoretical developments. Six major areas of interest are identified: spatial aspects of supply, spatial aspects of demand, the geography of resorts, patterns of movements and flows, the impact of tourism, and models of tourist space. Through an emphasis on spatial interaction an attempt is made to provide some cohesion and synthesis for this body of knowledge which constitutes the basis of the geography of tourism.     

Perceptions of tourism promotion and business challenges: A survey-based comparison of tourism businesses and promotion organizations

Tourism is an important economic development driver in the U.S. especially in rural areas. Most US regions have tourism-related economic development organizations to assist the local industry. Despite such assistance, however, many tourism-based businesses struggle. One possible reason is a disconnect between business needs and the activities of related organizations. This study uses survey data from tourism-based businesses and tourism promotion and economic development organizations in rural western Pennsylvania and West Virginia to compare how the various actors perceive the most pressing tourism promotion efforts and business challenges. In general, tourism businesses and support organizations agree on the promotional needs of tourism-based businesses and hold similar perceptions about industry problems. However, tourism promotion agencies underestimate the role of the internet in promotions and perceive workforce issues differently than do businesses. Better alignment of priorities within tourism partnerships should enhance promotional and educational efforts as well as the integration of tourism into overall economic development efforts.     

Managing tourism products and destinations embedding public good components: A hedonic approach

Decision making by tourism firms' managers and public policymakers is complex for many reasons. One of them is that many tourism products embed a combination of multiple public (external to the decisions of individual firms, related to location and essentially non-rival) and private attributes. Since tourists get satisfaction from each of the components of the product variety bought, managers face the daunting task of putting together, promoting and pricing a bundle of heterogeneous components. This paper draws on hedonic pricing literature to obtain insights (beyond making correct pricing decisions) for tourism firms' managers and public policymakers when dealing with products and destinations embedding public good components. An application to coastal hotels in tourism destinations of Catalonia is presented.     

Towards sustainable tourism planning in New Zealand: Monitoring local government planning under the Resource Management Act

In the light of the increasing pace and scale of tourism activity in New Zealand, the concept of sustainable tourism has become a key ingredient in the nation's tourism strategy. This paper explores sustainable tourism planning in New Zealand at the level of local government, and in particular, focuses on the implementation of the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) as a mechanism for achieving sustainable tourism. Using the findings of a survey of Regional Councils and Territorial Local Authorities, the paper explores public sector planning responses to tourism impacts and sustainability concerns in New Zealand. The paper extends the earlier work of Page and Thorn (1997. Towards sustainable tourism planning in New Zealand: public sector planning responses. Journal of Sustainable Tourism 5(1): 59-77; 2002. Towards sustainable tourism development and planning in New Zealand: the public sector response revisited. Journal of Sustainable Tourism 10(3): 222-238), which identified major issues of concern at local council level with regard to tourism impacts and argued the need for a national vision for tourism to ensure that the RMA achieved its original goals. Since then, a national tourism strategy has been published and changes in legislation have further empowered local authorities to further progress the sustainability agenda. This paper examines these developments and the ensuing implications, concluding that significant progress has been made in developing tourism policies at the local level, but that a number of constraints and issues limit the development of New Zealand as a sustainable destination.     

Analysing relationships in tourism: A review

In recent decades, a systemic notion of tourism has been gaining ground, leading to its recognition as a set of interacting elements. From this perspective, relationships have become an important factor in research for understanding tourism, proving useful in the planning and management of tourism destinations. By means of an comprehensive review of the main contributions in the scientific literature in this regard, this paper highlights that there is no one single conception or theoretical-methodological approach to studying relationships, and proposes a classification of the literature on the basis of six major research lines, with a view to identifying and analysing the main advances and gaps presented by each of the research lines. In short, the article identifies the main lines of research developed in this field, analysing the main contributions and making a series of proposals to guide the future research agenda regarding the analysis of relationships in tourism.     

The length of stay of golf tourism: A survival analysis

This study analyses the length of stay of golf tourists in the Algarve, on the southern coast of Portugal. The analysis employs a questionnaire to ascertain the significant characteristics influencing the length of stay of golf tourists. A survival model is used to analyse which characteristics are associated with the length of stay, taking into account the uncontrolled heterogeneity of the data. Robustness tests are implemented and policy implications are derived for improving the understanding and management of the length of stay of heterogeneous tourists.     

Paths to success: Benchmarking cross-country sustainable tourism

Given the complexity of the issues surrounding the concept of sustainable tourism, the current paper tries to provide a unified methodology to assess tourism sustainability, based on a number of quantitative indicators. The proposed methodological framework (Sustainable Tourism Benchmarking Tool – STBT) will provide a number of benchmarks against which the sustainability of tourism activities in various countries can be assessed. A model development procedure is proposed: identification of the dimensions (economic, socio-ecologic, infrastructure) and indicators, method of scaling, chart representation and evaluation on three Asian countries. This application to three countries shows us that a similar level of tourism activity might bring on different sorts of improvements to implement in the tourism activity and might have different consequences for the socio-ecological environment. The heterogeneity of developing countries exposed in the STBT is useful to detect the main problem that each country faces in their tourism sector.     

Residents,their use of a tourist facility and contribution to tourist ambience: Narratives from a film tourism site in Beijing

Any tourist site open to local residents represents a point where residents and tourists become a back drop for the experiences of the other. This paper examines a specific Beijing film tourism attraction, Grand View Gardens, and the manner in which the site is used by local residents, the meanings attributed to it, and residents' role in creating an ambience for tourists. Residents have a daily connection with the site, and form audiences for events held at the Gardens. They often interact with tourists, becoming a source of information for tourists. The paper examines residents' motives for using such attractions, their attitudes towards tourists and suggests they possess a role in the creation of a sense of place that is valued by tourists. The paper fills a gap in an under-researched area, where, in the Chinese context, both residents and visitors form backdrops to each other's experience of place.     

Rating tourism and hospitality journals

This paper reports on the findings of a global study of tourism and hospitality academics asking them to rate their collective literature. The study adopted a peer assessment method, using a snowball sample to maximize response rates. Overall, 70 tourism and hospitality journals were assessed (40 tourism and 30 hospitality) by 314 tourism and 191 hospitality experts. The study revealed that tourism and hospitality community, collectively, rates its journals in a clear hierarchy based on a combination of awareness and perceived quality rating.     

Implications of a long-term increase in oil prices for tourism

It is expected that global oil prices will increase in the future. Assessing the overall economic impacts on tourism is difficult, as oil price rises will be concomitant with global changes in other commodity prices, exchange rates, and incomes. A general equilibrium perspective is therefore presented in this paper. The model couples a global general equilibrium model with a purpose-built CGE model of New Zealand, which focuses on describing tourism supply and demand in some detail. The results indicate a decrease in real gross national disposable income of 1.7% for a doubling of oil price and a 9% reduction in the real value of tourism exports. As a result of segment-specific price increases and differing income and exchange rate effects and elasticities, the reduction in demand for tourism in New Zealand by 18 segments differs substantially. The greatest reduction in demand is observed for tourists from the United Kingdom.     

The establishment of a rapid natural disaster risk assessment model for the tourism industry

At the current time, the Taiwan government is aggressively promoting projects, such as the so-called “Double Tourist Plan”, designed to encourage the development of the sightseeing related business. Operators in the tourist industry hope to construct facilities at or near scenic areas, which, given their special geography, are often adjacent to the mountains or the ocean. Unfortunately these are also the areas that most often experience natural disasters. This has a negative impact on the tourism industry. The centralization of tourist facilities, leading to the gathering of large numbers of visitors during the holiday seasons, can place people in danger. In other words, tourism operators in the Taiwan region face a high risk of natural disasters. It is difficult to assess such risks. Most of the existing models for catastrophe risk assessment consume huge amounts of time and are costly to use, so are more commonly applied for assessment at high-value facilities (such science-based industrial parks), rather than by the tourism industry, where economic factors are of greater concern. It is necessary to develop a simple and rapid assessment method that will allow ordinary business owners to carry out comprehensive risk analysis of tourist facilities. Thus, in this study, we explore various theories related to different kinds of natural disaster risk analysis mechanisms, with the goal of establishing a rapid risk assessment model suited to the tourism industry that can be used to quickly analyze disaster-forming characteristics and risk weaknesses in local regions. Furthermore, we incorporate an expert weighting process for assigning weightings for natural disaster risk index assessment. This method can help tourism asset owners prepare for the worst, and be capable of responding appropriately if and when such an event occurs. Good planning can effectively reduce the loss and risks associated with natural disasters and allow recovery work to commence sooner.     

Mapping time series into networks as a tool to assess the complex dynamics of tourism systems

This paper contributes to filling two gaps: i) the presence of a limited amount of studies focused on tourism demand turning points, ii) the prevalent recourse to linear models in demand analysis, disregarding the complex structure of tourism destinations. The paper uses the Horizontal Visibility Graph Algorithm, a technique able to transform a time series of observations into a network whose topology preserves some fundamental characteristics of the system examined. The empirical work focuses on Livigno, an Italian alpine destination.Findings reveal four turning points in the last 50 years; these changes are built around shifts in the origin market segments. The network's degree distribution confirms the complex structure of the destination and reconfirms the importance of non-linear models and methods for the analysis of tourism demand.     

The effect of perceived trust on electronic commerce: Shopping online for tourism products and services in South Korea

According to the OECD's 2008 statistics (Seoul Finance Internet News, 2009), Korea was ranked number one in terms of the percentage of homes with Internet access, at 80.6% of the total population. The survey also reported that two-thirds of Koreans with access to the Internet at home are online shoppers. Many tourism companies now actively use Internet sites as a key marketing and sales vehicle for their products and services. To be successful, tourism e-commerce services must be trustworthy.     

Interactive design of personalised tourism routes

The tourism sector has evolved in recent times, with a transformation in tourists’ preferences and behaviour. They are increasingly abandoning standard tours in favour of more personalised options. New technologies offer easy access to a large amount of tourism information. However, this also means it is difficult for a decision-maker to assess all the possible alternatives for designing a customised trip. Making such decisions may well require the resolution of conflicting objectives. Therefore, in this paper we develop a tool that provides each tourist with the itinerary best suited to their needs. This itinerary can include the desired different activities on an established schedule, bearing in mind the tourist’s wishes and needs, along with the characteristics of the area. This is done by using a mathematical model and interactive multi-criteria techniques. Finally, we will carry out a practical application in the Autonomous Region of Andalusia.     

The impacts of international tourism demand on economic growth of small economies dependent on tourism

This paper studies the impacts on economic growth of a small tourism-driven economy caused by an increase in the growth rate of international tourism demand. We present a formal model and empirical evidence. The ingredients of the dynamic model are a large population of intertemporally optimizing agents and an AK technology representing tourism production. The model shows that an increase in the growth of tourism demand leads to transitional dynamics with gradually increasing economic growth and increasing terms of trade. In our empirical application, an econometric methodology is applied to annual data of Antigua and Barbuda from 1970 to 2008. We perform a cointegration analysis to look for the existence of a long-run relationship among variables of economic growth, international tourism earnings and the real exchange rate. The exercise confirms the theoretical findings.     

Strategic orientation and performance of tourism firms: Evidence from a developing country

This study investigates whether tourism firms in a developing country, namely Turkey, which adopt one of the four strategic orientations of Miles and Snow (1978), differ based on their financial and non-financial performance. The study results show that there is a difference in both financial and non-financial performance based on the strategic orientations followed by tourism enterprises. Generally, prospectors were found to outperform defenders, whereas analyzers showed a comparable performance to prospectors. The findings of this study imply that in developing countries, tourism businesses may be indifferent when choosing between these two strategies based on their internal characteristics since they yield similar financial results. Specific factors and developments in the macro environment and company-specific factors seem to affect tourism firms' strategic orientation as well as their performance. Better understanding and closer analysis of such factors can help improve the performance of tourism businesses in developing countries. Further research using both perceptual and objective measures is needed to confirm the present results to better assess possible differences in performance among strategic orientations in some other developing countries.     

Food tourism policy: Deconstructing boundaries of taste and class

Recent discussions from the journal of tourism management call for more critical deconstructions of the political and economic structures that shape policy and planning. The present paper takes up this call, using a post-structualist framework to examine Scotland's food tourism landscape. Utilising Foucauldian discourse analysis to deconstruct 2,312 media sources collected through a Factiva database search, we illustrate how policy discourses privilege middle class cultural symbols through official food tourism promotion, marginalising particular foods positioned as working class. We find that this is particularly evident through the example of the deep fried mars bar; where, despite touristic desires, classed media discourses constructed it as global, bad and disgusting, and therefore an embarrassment to official tourism bodies. We conclude by discussing the broader importance of attending to the marginalising and silencing effects tourism policy exerts when the power values and interests involved in its formation are not critically appraised.