Indoor air quality in new hotels’ guest rooms of the major world factory region

The Pearl River Delta (PRD) region of Guangdong province has been developed rapidly in recent years, and many new hotels have been built. Nevertheless, the indoor air quality (IAQ) of hotels is seldom investigated and reported. Therefore this study aimed at examining the air quality in newly opened hotels in the region. A 2-day field test was carried out in each of the eight sampled hotels, investigating both indoor and outdoor air qualities. Major air pollutants including individual volatile organic compounds (VOC) and total volatile organic compounds (TVOC), as well as physical background parameters such as air temperature (T_a), relative humidity (RH), and ventilation rate were investigated. The results showed that most of the sampled hotels were unable to provide a completely healthy indoor environment. Compare with findings of similar studies, this study found that in terms of air quality, new hotels were more polluted than older hotels and residential buildings. The dominant pollution sources came from indoor, rather than ambient environment. At the end of this paper, some recommendations for improving hotel IAQ are presented.     

The occurrence of Listeria monocytogenes in mass catering: An overview in the European Union

Listeria monocytogenes is the causative agent of the human illness called listeriosis. The data reported in the last 15 years of scientific literature concerning the relationship between this microorganism and the catering sector showed a permanent presence of the opportunistic pathogen through the years, though with low frequencies. Even though the pathogenic capacity of L. monocytogenes is practically circumscribed to a few risk categories as pregnant women, newborns and different kinds of immunocompromised people, given its high case-fatality rate this disease represents the second cause of death for foodborne infection in Europe. As it emerged from the reviewed literature, L. monocytogenes was recovered in many different food categories, which testifies the widespread of the pathogen in the food chain. The main causes of L. monocytogenes presence were poor microbiological quality of raw materials, cross-contamination, inadequate cleaning practices, improper storage temperature, inadequate preparation processes, and a lack in the training of staff on food hygiene. In particular, cross-contamination of foods can be reduced by hand washing, use of gloves, separation of raw materials from end products, sanitation and disinfection of equipment and food contact surfaces, hence, a structured training program of staff on these practices is essential.     

Local foods in a university setting: Price consciousness,product involvement,price/quality inference and consumer's willingness-to-pay

The current study looks at the relationship between price consciousness, product involvement, price/quality inference, and consumer's willingness-to-pay related to local foods in a university foodservice environment. The study develops a model that looks at the above relationships as well as the potential moderating factor of perceived product information to determine what role they play in the willingness-to-pay for locally grown products. A survey of 352 students at a large, southeastern U.S. university foodservice operation asked about the role of the above factors in choosing local foods. The study found there were significant relationships between product involvement, price consciousness, and price/quality inference on willingness-to-pay, although perceived product information did not moderate the relationships. Ensuring that customers have sufficient information regarding local products and increasing emotional interest in the local products specifically will help to increase willingness-to-pay for those products. Implications for academics and university foodservice practitioners are discussed.     

Tropospheric ozone,air pollution and tourism: a case study of Mallorca

This study explores tourists’ contribution to air pollution through an analysis of tropospheric ozone levels. Although the ozone layer in the upper atmosphere is beneficial, preventing damaging ultraviolet light from reaching the Earth's surface, ozone in the lower atmosphere, known as tropospheric ozone, can damage plant species, both natural materials and manufactured goods, and can damage lung tissues in humans. Additionally, ozone in the upper troposphere exerts a considerable impact on global warming. Using the case study of Mallorca (Spain) – an isolated, intensive tourist destination in the Mediterranean – a daily indicator of tourist numbers is used in order to capture direct and induced pressure on the environment. Models based on daily data are estimated using meteorological, daily tourist numbers and other significant variables, showing how rising tourism activity in Mallorca is associated with rising daily concentrations of tropospheric ozone, created by transport, air conditioning and other activities. The estimated models make different simulations possible, showing the consequences of increasing tourism numbers during different seasons. The concluding section shows the potential to develop the models used here for other destinations.     

Air Quality in Hong Kong: A Study of the Perception of International Visitors

This paper reports on a study of the views of 1304 international travellers about their perception of air quality in Hong Kong. Findings indicated that the respondents generally did not perceive the air quality in Hong Kong as a concern when they chose to travel; they had a neutral view of this issue. However, after their visit they considered Hong Kong's air quality in both indoor and outdoor environments as worse than in their home countries. Many visitors were willing to pay an additional departure tax to fund improvements. The findings of this study have implications for decision-makers in formulating more sustainable planning policies to deal with this important environmental issue.     

Is the hotel classification system a good indicator of hotel quality?: An application in Spain

This paper analyses whether the hotel classification system is a good indicator of hotel quality, where quality is defined to be satisfying the expectations and needs of the client. We conducted our research in Spain, where a five-category system using stars is employed. To be exact, the hotel sector of one autonomous community (Cantabria, located in northern Spain) was studied, given that it is these autonomous regions that have exclusive authority to regulate and promote tourism. The results of the study confirm that even though significant quality differences are seen between the different categories, the ranking by quality does not correspond to that by categories. This supports the idea that quality is associated with the delivery of a service according to client expectations, more than it is with establishment category.     

Levels of quality and environmental management in the hotel industry: Their joint influence on firm performance

Many studies have examined quality management and environmental management separately. This paper analysed the commitment to quality and environmental management at the same time, and their separate and joint effects on hotel performance. The empirical data were collected from a sample of 301 3-to-5-star Spanish hotels. A cluster analysis was carried out to identify the levels of commitment to quality and the environment. Then, ANOVA and regression analysis tested the quality and environmental commitment levels-performance link. Three levels of quality and environmental commitment have been identified. The findings showed that the commitment to quality and environmental practices influences hotel performance.     

Effects of service quality and food quality: The moderating role of atmospherics in an ethnic restaurant segment

This study empirically examined not only the relationship between perceived quality and satisfaction/loyalty, but also the role of customer perceptions of atmospherics in an ethnic restaurant segment. Specifically, this study, using hierarchical regression analyses, investigated the direct effects of service quality and food quality on customer satisfaction and loyalty as well as the moderating effect of the perception of atmospherics, in Korean restaurants. As expected, this study showed that service and food quality have positive and significant effects on customer satisfaction and loyalty. This suggested that, similar to other restaurant segments, employee service and food are of great importance for ethnic restaurants as well. Verifying the moderating role of atmospherics, however, this study found that good employee service can be more effective for increasing the satisfaction and loyalty of customers with a low perception of the atmospherics compared to those with a higher perception. Further, providing quality food is particularly critical for creating customer satisfaction in ethnic restaurants where atmospherics are not satisfactory. More detailed findings and implications are also discussed.     

Impact of hotel website quality on online booking intentions: eTrust as a mediator

Growing competitiveness in the marketplace pushes hoteliers to fully take advantage of their websites as a marketing tool. This study proposed that a trusting relationship with customers could be developed by investing in hotel website development. A research model that incorporates hotel website quality, eTrust, and online booking intentions was put forward. The software AMOS 20.0 was adopted to analyze the proposed inter-variable relationships. Statistical results demonstrated that hotel website quality is a strong predictor of eTrust which then also mediates the relationship between website quality and consumers’ online booking intentions. Implications were offered for practitioners based on the results.     

Factors influencing the relevance of air quality in the attractiveness of a tourism destination: Differences between nature-based and urban destinations

Assessing tourism destination attractiveness is a dynamic procedure influenced by constantly changing factors. Despite the existence of various studies on destination attractiveness, less attention has been devoted to measuring the relevance of air quality. The growing concerns related to the impacts of air pollution worldwide, make it imperative to develop attractiveness models which incorporate air quality. Based on survey data collected from 625 visitors, this study examines the importance of air quality when selecting tourism destinations and the factors influencing it. Findings reveal a moderate importance of air quality when selecting tourism destinations, with pro-environmental behaviors at home, perception of the destination's air quality, age, and visitor origin being the most influential factors. The results show that air quality has higher importance when visiting nature-based destinations.     

Social learning and sustainable tourism development; local quality conventions in tourism: a Greek case study

This paper presents the trajectory of an innovative organisational scheme, the Local Quality Convention (LQC), concerning sustainable tourism development in the Lake Plastiras area, a less favoured area in Central Greece. It outlines the development issues of the area, the main actors, their views and practices and describes the creation, progress and emerging problems of the LQC scheme. Research reveals contradicting approaches to sustainable tourism development which, in turn, influenced the LQC's evolution. The findings are critically discussed in the light of the Social Learning (SL) approach to social change and sustainable development. According to SL it is only through interactive (participative), concerted action that stakeholders are able to co-construct an issue and its solutions. Given the dominance of “conventional” tourism in Greece as well as the top-down formation and implementation of policies, the importance of the long term facilitation of local stakeholders to achieve sustainable tourism development is demonstrated, along with other related lessons for planners and managers.     

Enhancing service quality improvement strategies of fine-dining restaurants: New insights from integrating a two-phase decision-making model of IPGA and DEMATEL analysis

The traditional IPA model has been considered to be a decision-making tool for service quality management. However, the IPA model does not meet the assumptions of the service quality gap, and also cannot explore the connection between service quality attributes, which can easily lead to decision-making errors of service quality management. The purpose of this study is to apply the IPGA model and DEMATEL to explore the service quality improvement priority of fine-dining restaurants and the causal relationship between service quality attributes, and use it as the decision-making reference of service quality strategy planning and resource reorganizing for the restaurant industry with limited resources. The study applied the customers of 8 fine-dining restaurants in Taipei City as the study object, and there are 502 effective samples. The study result shows that the dimensions of reliability, responsiveness, and assurance are concentrated here, and are the restaurant service quality dimensions that most need to be improved from the customer perceptive. In addition, the total effect of reliability is the highest among all the service quality dimensions. Reliability and responsiveness, in addition to impacting each other, will impact assurance and empathy. According to the study result, through IPGA and DEMATEL, the service quality performance of fine-dining restaurants and the resource input priority can be grasped more objectively and accurately, which can be used as a reference for manager to plan the service quality improvement strategy.     

A two-way causal chain between tourism development and quality of life in a small island destination: an empirical analysis

This study postulates that tourism development (TD) and residents' quality of life (QoL) may have an intrinsically reciprocal relationship. The possible connection between TD and QoL is investigated in the island of Aruba, with economic development as a mediating variable. This investigation contributes to the literature by emphasizing the active role of QoL in the relationship with TD through a subjective well-being approach, and by expanding our understanding of the development concept. The study also advances the scope of tourism theory by presenting new propositions. The methodology consists of applying exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses combined with structural equations modeling. The results suggest that TD has a direct and indirect impact on QoL, and that QoL has an indirect effect on TD, via economic development. These findings provide new insights on the dimensions that shape the link between TD and QoL.     

The role of authenticity,experience quality,emotions, and satisfaction in a cultural heritage destination

ABSTRACT

Recent studies have shown the increasing importance of affective and subjective variables, such as experience quality, authenticity, and emotions in the formation of tourist satisfaction. This paper is a pioneer in jointly analysing the influence of authenticity in its double dimension, experience quality, and emotions variables on satisfaction in a cultural context. This study uses the structural equation modelling approach (Partial Least Square) and shows the direct and positive influence of objective and existential authenticity on the quality of the experience, as well as the direct and positive influence of the quality of experience on emotions. It is highly relevant to focus on both cognitive and affective dimensions of authenticity to improve the quality of the tourists’ experience. No previous studies in the literature examine the possible relationships between the different dimensions of authenticity on the quality of the experience and on emotions. The work reveals the importance of such variables in generating greater tourist satisfaction with the visited destination.     

The influence of website quality dimensions on e-purchasing behaviour and e-loyalty: a comparative study of Egyptian travel agents and hotels

Websites have become a channel for tourism enterprises to market and sell their services online. These enterprises are committed to improving their online services to retain customers and improving their competitiveness. This study aims to measure the effect of website quality dimensions on customer purchasing behaviour, and how this behaviour affects customer electronic (e)-loyalty. It compares the perceptions of 275 customers of travel agencies and 355 hotels using structural equation modelling. Findings revealed that website quality dimensions significantly affect the customer purchasing behaviour. The study highlighted the dimensions with a negative effect to help managers improve their website quality.     

A structural model of residents’ intention to participate in ecotourism: The case of a wetland community

Ecotourism supports environmental conservation as well as generating economic opportunities. It additionally strongly emphasizes benefits to the local community and suggests that the involvement of the residents is important for the effective management of tourism. Accordingly, this study explores factors contributing to residents’ participation intention in ecotourism management and proposes a structural relationship between their participation intention, environmental knowledge, attitudes towards ecotourism and the appeal of tourist landscapes. Analysis indicates residents’ environmental knowledge positively affects attitudes towards ecotourism, which in turn directly and indirectly determine the intention to participate in ecotourism through their individual landscape affinity. Thus, residents’ involvement in ecotourism may be stimulated through a) appropriate management strategies aimed at increasing their environmental knowledge, b) encouraging positive ecotourism attitudes, and c) environmental planning that promotes residents’ affinity for local attractions.     

The role of relationship quality in raising organizational change acceptance: The case of the Greek hotel industry

This study examines whether the quality of an employee's relationships, within the context of the hotel industry, has an influence on their behavioral intention towards organizational change. The researchers suggest that the quality of relationships is an important element of an individual's social capital and can be evaluated using five key dimensions: the extent to which relationships are tangible, responsive and reliable, as well as the extent to which they offer empathy and assurance. Furthermore, this research examines whether organizational commitment and job satisfaction have an effect on the association between relationship quality and an individual's behavioral intention towards organizational change. The data collected from a sample of 100 hotel employees in Thessaloniki, Greece, show that relationship quality has a positive association with an individual's behavioral intention towards change. Additional results highlight the roles of job satisfaction and organizational commitment as mediating variables. Managerial implications relevant to the findings and pathways for further research are also discussed.     

The role of intrinsic in-flight cues in relationship quality and behavioural intentions: segmentation in less mindful and mindful passengers

The current study quantifies the relationship between intrinsic in-flight cues, passenger satisfaction, affective commitment, trust, and behavioural intentions in passengers travelling in low-cost carriers and legacy airlines. As far as we know, this is the first attempt to employ a multi-group analysis to test (1) if passengers in low-cost carriers and legacy airlines, and also (2) if the group of mindful passengers and the group of less mindful ones, have significantly different perceptions about flights in Europe. A total of 304 cases of legacy airlines and low-cost carriers were used in data analysis. Overall, affective commitment and trust are mainly triggered by in-flight ambience and space/function. Satisfaction and affective commitment play a more important role in behavioural intentions. As expected, the findings do not reveal significant differences associated with the paths between low-cost carriers and legacy airlines in short-haul flights in Europe. Nevertheless, compared with less mindful passengers, mindful ones tend to be more critical about in-flight attributes and do not easily develop a committed relationship.     

Perceived justice in service recovery and behavioral intentions: The role of relationship quality

This study examined restaurant customers’ perceptions of justice according to service recovery effort levels and whether perceived justice influences customers’ future behavioral intentions. This study also investigated whether the effects of perceived justice on future behavioral intentions vary across customers’ relationship quality levels. The results showed that high recovery efforts were consistently evaluated highly in terms of perceived justice when compared to low recovery efforts, regardless of the level of relationship quality. Additionally, perceived justice brought about by service recovery efforts has a positive effect on customers’ future behavioral intentions. Hierarchical regression analyses suggested that relationship quality plays a moderating role between perceived justice and behavioral intentions in the distributive and procedural justice dimensions. Implications for the restaurant industry are also discussed.