“Santa Claus is Coming to Town” – Christmas Holidays in a Tropical Destination

Originally a Christian festival to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, Christmas is now a major secular festival celebrated in numerous Christian and non-Christian countries. It is also a major holiday period that from a destination perspective offers an opportunity to attract significant numbers of visitors. The aim of this paper is to explore issues related to developing a Christmas-themed holiday product in a destination that has not previously used the festive nature of Christmas as a major destination pull factor. This paper finds that while its religious significance has waned, the celebration of Christmas remains an important tradition reflected in the expectation that Christmas symbols and activities are present at holiday destinations. The paper also finds that the development of a Christmas product needs to include an authentic “Christmas feel” that is able to be created by street and shop decorations such as Christmas lights and trees, nativity scenes and Santa Claus, as well as Christmas carols and the availability of special foods associated with Christmas.     

Holiday recovery experiences,tourism satisfaction and life satisfaction – Is there a relationship?

This research examines the relationships between holiday recovery experiences and life satisfaction through mediating variables of tourism satisfaction. Derived from a sample of 777 American respondents, it was found that individuals who were able to control what they want to do, feel relaxed and detached from work, and have new and challenging experiences during a holiday vacation were more likely to be satisfied with their holiday experiences and their life in general. The paper concludes with recommendations for the success of tourism businesses as well as the enhancement of tourists' senses of well-being.     

Visitors' Perceptions of Holiday Experiences and Service Providers: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

The paper presents and discusses the results of an exploratory, empirical study, which intended to explore links between holiday experiences and the assessment of the tourism offering. Focusing on evaluation as perceived by customers, the author argues for the acknowledgement of their notion of the ‘holiday product.’ Consequently, the central theme of the study is the holiday visitor's narrated experience. It was found that prevalent assessment frameworks were inconsistent with the way visitors described their own holiday evaluation. Instead of a component-based judgement process, visitors seem to evaluate holidays against vague holiday ideals. Based on this finding, an alternative role and assessment model of service providers is proposed.     

The role of values for voluntary reductions of holiday air travel

Recent research has shown that holiday air travel constitutes a typical value-action gap as many people continue to fly despite their concerns about climate change. However, some people do voluntarily reduce their holiday flights. Little is known so far about the role that values play in this decision. This paper examines this question based on semi-structured interviews with participants in local climate change and energy-saving projects. It finds that people who voluntarily reduce their holiday air travel are more ready than those who continue to fly to accept that their behaviour makes a contribution to climate change; that they feel a moral imperative to act regardless of its effectiveness in mitigating climate change; and that they distance themselves from socially dominant norms related to holiday air travel. This paper argues that these characteristics are connected to values of self-transcendence and self-direction, and that in this way values remain important for understanding and supporting low carbon behaviour.     

新假日制度对旅游消费行为的影响研究——基于在杭休闲旅游者的调查

本研究以在杭休闲旅游者问卷调查为基础,通过频率频次、因子、信度、单因素方差等分析方法,探究新假日制度下人们的旅游选择、旅游偏好、旅游意愿、消费方式等的变化态势以及不同人口学和社会学特征变化显著程度,并从中获得对假日旅游产品与市场开发的启示。     

Sociocultural dimensions of tourism history

This paper explores some of the sociocultural issues that surround tourism history. It is contended that tourist activity is socially differentiated, but that this is by no means solely a product of prevailing class and related structural constraints. Instead, importance must be attached to the cultural setting within which activity is located and to the role of the consumer in creating new opportunities. Two case studies — plotland development and holiday camps — are used to demonstrate the thesis. Conclusions are drawn in respect of the study of tourism history, arguing for interdisciplinarity, for comparative research, and for further work on the inter-relationships between societal constraints and individual opportunities.     

The Socialization of Families Away from Home: Group Dynamics and Family Functioning on Holiday

The focus on individuals in tourism research has led to limited and fragmented research on family groups and their leisure experiences away from home. This article extends conceptual and theoretical understandings within family tourism research by offering a three-dimensional framework inclusive of group perspectives. A whole-family methodology was used with 10 families (10 fathers, 10 mothers, and 20 children) in New Zealand as a more critical and holistic approach to tourism concepts. Empirical findings illustrate group dynamics along with the underrepresented generational perspectives of children and gender perspectives of fathers to provide insights into family functioning. This resulted in a three-layered model of family holiday experiences inclusive of group sociality. The collective intentionality of family togetherness on holiday is contrasted with more balanced modes in own time, highlighting the complexity of socialization within tourism theory and practice.     

The impact of holiday tourism development on tourism total factor productivity: Evidence from China

Tourism development during holiday periods may influence tourism total factor productivity (TTFP) in the industry. However, little is known about the impact of holiday tourism on TTFP. Focusing on China's Golden Week holiday system, this study applies dynamic panel models to test the effect of holiday tourism development on TTFP with panel data of 31 provinces in mainland China from 2001 to 2019. The study also compares the effects before and after 2008 when the Golden Week holiday system changed from three weeks to two weeks with shorter holiday breaks. Results show that holiday tourism development has a negative effect on TTFP. Before 2008, the magnitude of the negative effect was constant while after 2008 the negative effect was reduced significantly. This study contributes to the understanding of TTFP from a holiday tourism perspective. The findings offer valuable implications for national holiday governance and tourism productivity in developing countries.     

Determinants of Small Pacific Island Tourism: A Vanuatu Study

The research reported in this paper sought to identify the key determinants of small island tourism in the Pacific region. In order to investigate this research problem, 185 Australian tourists were surveyed as they returned from holidaying in Vanuatu. The sample included those who had visited outer islands such as Espiritu Santo as well as those who had not ventured beyond the main island. Findings indicated that the most important influences on the decision to visit the outer islands were the climate and the reputation as a holiday destination. When rating Vanuatu as a holiday, both those who went to an outer island and those who did not rated the three main reasons as friendliness, range of restaurants and quality of accommodation, whereas the principal reasons given for not visiting an outer island were: that the outer islands were too expensive to access; most tourists wanted a “stay put” holiday; and they did not have enough time on their holiday. From the findings of this research on the determinants of small Pacific island tourism, it is suggested that further research into the applicability of these determinants be conducted in other small island environments in other regions of the world.     

The elusive impact of pro-environmental intention on holiday on pro-environmental behaviour at home

There is limited research studying how pro-environmental behavioural intentions gained in a tourism context subsequently influence intentions and actual behaviour at home. This study reports on a three-stage study that surveys Chinese domestic tourists on holiday, and at home one week and one month after the holiday experience. The findings suggest that the stated pro-environmental intention on holiday does not convert into actual pro-environmental behaviour at home. Neither pro-environmental intention nor pro-environmental behaviour are seen to change over time or location. It is the availability of infrastructure (physical context) that affects a change, as evidenced by Dinghu Mountain National Nature Reserve, which provides environmental information and significantly more facilities to enable pro-environmental behaviour than Chinese nationals find in their daily home environment. Implications are offered for ways to apply the ABC theory to policies that seek to achieve long-term environmental behavioural change, such as strong government policy interventions.     

Holiday Home Owners,a Route to Sustainable Tourism Development? An Economic Analysis of Tourist Expenditure Data

Although sustainable tourism comprises economic, social and environmental aspects, economic analysis has been less evident in the literature. This paper takes an economic perspective to evaluate the contribution of holiday home owners to a local economy. Tourism destinations which are at the mature stages of the tourism lifecycle wish to maximise revenue from tourism while minimising costs such as overcrowding. A prime objective has to be to attract the more economically valuable tourists. In this paper an analysis of North Wexford in Ireland poses questions such as: How does the holiday home owners’ expenditure in the local area compare to that of traditional tourists? Do they purchase different types of goods? What levels of local expenditure do holiday home owners engage in for the upkeep or development of their second properties? What are the implications of these findings? The results show that there are clear economic benefits for an area that people deem attractive enough to build or purchase a holiday home in. This type of tourist has a high annual spend relative to other tourists and much of this expenditure seems to be concentrated in the local area. These findings need to be incorporated into the broader debate regarding the advantages and disadvantages of holiday home owners and the possibility of them comprising a route to sustainable development for local tourist areas.     

Ethical behaviour on holiday and at home: combining behaviour in two contexts

Ethical consumption behaviour, on holiday and at home, is required to minimize future environmental and social damage. Ethical consumption is a prominent issue in the media and in academic research, but ethical behaviours remain limited among the general population. This research explores whether an underlying propensity to act ethically can be extended to behaviour across two life contexts, Ethical Tourist Behaviour (ETB) and Everyday Ethical Consumption Behaviour (ECB). We also examine whether ethical behaviour decreases on holiday as suggested by previous research. Using the Rasch Model, ethical behaviour on holiday and at home is combined into one ETB/ECB continuum and ethical behaviours in both life contexts are directly compared. In line with other research, our subjects undertake only a limited number of ethical behaviours, on holiday and at home. We find that tourists engage in ethical behaviours, but spill-over of ethical behaviour across the two contexts only occurs between situationally/environmentally similar behaviours, ethical behaviours whose underlying barriers are of similar difficulty in both life contexts. These results and this methodology can be used by tourism managers and policy-makers to explore current ethical behaviour and offer the next ethical steps to citizens.     

Social holidays as a tourist experience in Finland

The aim of this study is to investigate the factors that affect the formation of the social holiday experience, and the role of specially arranged activities in that experience. It draws on the specific case of Finland. An intrinsic, intensive case study research strategy is applied and an ethnographic approach is taken using observation, semi-structured interviews, and questionnaires. The findings indicate that the social holiday experience is clearly linked to everything which took place during the holiday. This supports earlier research on service experiences. Six categories of factors contribute to the social tourism experience: interaction, physical environment, content of the activities, food and mealtime conditions, situational factors and personal factors. Social holiday clients do not expect the holiday to be anything extraordinary.     

Consumerism in Sustainable Tourism: A Survey of UK Consumers

This article presents the results of a survey of tourism consumers from the Destinations Travel Show in the UK in 2000. Four hundred and eleven tourism consumers were interviewed over four days at the show on the type of information that they used in the selection of their holiday destination. This article posits that the power of the consumer can be a major force for progress towards greater sustainability by the tourism industry, acting as a rationale for change, which is often missing from more traditional planning, management or regulatory techniques. The research shows consumers are already making decisions based on environmental, social and economic quality for day-to-day products and are keen to transfer these habits to the purchase of tourism products. Recommendations are made, highlighting the need for the tourism industry to capitalise on this demand for a wider range of product information and so promote moves towards greater levels of sustainability in the industry.     

近年来国内关于城郊旅游开发研究综述

随着国内旅游迅猛发展，假日旅游蓬勃兴起，城市郊区逐渐成为旅游的热点区域。本文从城郊旅游兴起的原因、城郊旅游开发的条件（或优势）和形式，以及城郊旅游开发中存在的问题和开发对策（或战略）等方面对近年来国内城郊旅游开发的研究文献进行了简略的综述，并对国内城郊旅游开发研究进行了展望。     

沪渝两地市民假日出游市场状况实证对比研究

本文通过实证研究手段 ,对沪渝两地的假日出游市场进行了问卷调查 ,通过统计分析 ,得出了两地假日出游市场的共性特征、差异性特征和个性特征。由此提出从区域经济、区域文化的视野用实证方法来深入研究假日旅游市场的开发问题。     

Agreement and disagreement in family vacation decision-making

In the last 20 years changes have taken place which have altered the decision-making process in families—family democracy is clearly in the ascendant. The family has evolved into what business research calls a decision-making unit. This general trend probably also has consequences for holiday decisions. The focus of this research is on (dis)agreement within couples concerning 15 vacation sub-decisions. In this Dutch longitudinal study, data were collected for couples over a period of nearly a year. Our main conclusion is that holiday choice has evolved over the last 30 years into being very much a joint decision, in which family members discuss, seek information for the discussion and use influencing strategies. The dominant disagreement-resolution strategy is the golden mean strategy. This is a strategy of give-and-take-and-reach-a-compromise. Compared with other choices, the holiday choice is also more of a joint affair. Finally, intrafamily (dis)agreement has consequences for satisfaction with the choice process, the amount of discussion and information searching. Implications of the increased family democracy for marketing and advertising are described.     

Paid work,life-work and leisure: a study of wellbeing in the context of academic lives in higher education

Living, working, leisure, and well-being are of increasing concern to educators, policy-makers, governments and people generally. The aim of this research note is to investigate the relationships between paid work, life work and leisure in terms of well-being associated with activity. The research used a modified experience sampling method for a one-week period with a staff group based in an educational institution. The data collection period included a bank holiday (three days holiday and four days work). A mobile phone was used to collect data eight times a day, over seven days, on activity, enjoyment, interest, visual interest, challenge, skill and happiness. Data analysis showed a significant correlation between enjoyment and happiness; enjoyment and interest; and visual interest, which also correlated with happiness. Enjoyment and happiness were experienced more in leisure than in paid work and life work. Level of enjoyment was greatest when skills were greater than moderate challenge in activity, though high enjoyment was more frequent when moderate and high challenge were met with equal skills (satisfying conditions of ‘flow’). High enjoyment came as much from paid work as from leisure. The findings replicate and extend earlier research, and the research note emphasises the importance of measures of enjoyment in the investigation of national wellbeing.     

Package mountaineer tourists holidaying in the French Alps: An evaluation of key influences encouraging their participation

This study investigates the key influences that encourage mountaineer tourists, classified as a type of adventure tourist, to participate in package mountaineering holidays. There is limited understanding of why tourists take package adventure holidays, yet the demand for such holidays has grown dramatically in recent years. The author conducted in-depth interviews with mountaineer tourists either during or at the end of their package mountaineering holiday in the Chamonix region of the French Alps. Interview findings provide an insight into package mountaineer tourists. Firstly, mountaineering was an important part of respondents’ lifestyles. Secondly, contrary to previous research on experienced mountaineers, respondents did not consider risk as an important motive and they did not view themselves as risk takers. Thirdly, skills development and experience were key motives encouraging package mountaineering holiday participation. Fourthly, a major concern for respondents was to have a safe mountaineering experience in which the mountaineering organisation and the guide played a key role.