Exploring tourists' perceptions of tourism impacts

Unlike how tourism is viewed by residents, little is known about how tourists feel about tourism in the destination. Nevertheless, studies have shown that tourists' emotional bonds with the destination positively affect their perceptions of and reactions to tourism in the destination. Such emotional bonds often vary based on tourists' previous experience in the destination. Thus, this study explored how tourists' emotional solidarity with residents influences their perceptions of tourism and how first-timers and repeat tourists differ in their views. To this end, 404 responses from South Korean sport tourists were analyzed. Though differences were not evident between first-timers and repeat tourists in their emotional solidarity or attitudes toward tourism, a positive relationship was confirmed between emotional solidarity and perceptions of tourism. The findings suggest that attitudes toward tourism is no longer a construct exclusive to residents and destination managers should also consider tourists' views.     

Keep it real: Assessing destination image congruence and its impact on tourist experience evaluations

Inaccurate promotional information about tourist destinations may result in tourists' negative evaluations. This study proposes a new approach to measure the congruence between projected and received images of a destination's attractions. Based on online textual data, this study investigates how image congruence influences tourists' evaluations of their destination experiences. Using promotional messages and reviews of attractions in Hainan, China obtained from a leading Chinese online travel agency (Ctrip) and a three-way fixed-effects regression model, this study demonstrates that image congruence positively affects tourists' appraisal of their destination experiences. External crises (e.g., the COVID-19 pandemic), the readability of promotional messages, and tourists' expertise moderate this relationship, reducing the positive impact of image congruence on tourist experience evaluation. This study bridges theoretical and empirical gaps in destination image (in)congruence research, informing tourism marketing agencies of effective promotional strategies in different contexts.     

Exploring the influence of tourists’ happiness on revisit intention in the context of Traditional Chinese Medicine cultural tourism

Based on how tourists interpret the destination experience and on attachment theory, this study investigates the influencing mechanism of tourists' happiness on revisit intention for traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) cultural tourism destinations. Three tourist samples confirm the three dimensions of tourists' happiness: positive emotions, engagement, and meaning. Two surveys were conducted to test the direct and indirect influence of tourists' happiness on revisit intention and the moderating role of tourists' health consciousness. The results show that tourists' happiness promotes memorable tourism experience and place attachment, in turn stimulating revisit intention. The results also support health consciousness as a significant moderator between happiness, place attachment, and revisit intention. The findings enrich theoretical understanding of tourists’ happiness and provide marketing and management advice for TCM cultural tourism destinations.     

Connecting tourists to musical destinations: The role of musical geographical imagination and aesthetic responses in music tourism

While the value of music in connecting tourists to destinations is recognized, its mechanism remains unclear. This study adopts aesthetic responses to explore how musical geographical imagination influences tourists' place bonding and subsequent behavioral intentions. This explanatory sequential mixed-methods study: 1) elucidates the connotation and effects of musical geographical imagination integrating with aesthetics in tourism research; 2) shows that tourists' aesthetic cognitive and affective responses to musical geographical imagination strengthen place bonding, and buttresses the importance of affective responses in leveraging behavioral intentions; and 3) indicates that tourists’ responses to musical stimuli differ in direct and indirect destination experience contexts, demonstrating that musical stimulus context moderates on associations of imagination with cognitive responses, and affective responses with behaviroal intentions. This study empirically expands the imagination from individual auditory spaces to a destination and advances tourism aesthetics research; it guides using music in tourism sensory marketing and tourism soundscape design.     

Satisfaction and Destination Loyalty

ABSTRACT

First-time and repeat tourists engage in different tourism experience with a destination. Based on previous studies, the main purpose of this research is to investigate how tourists' previous experience with a tourist destination influences on the satisfaction evaluation, destination loyalty and destination attractiveness. An empirical study is carried out among 806 tourists visiting Calpe, a Spanish tourist destination, in the summer of 2000. Research findings evidence that the level of satisfaction and the number of past visits considerably influence tourists' intentions to make repeat visits.     

Exploring user acceptance of 3D virtual worlds in travel and tourism marketing

The virtual world of Second Life provides opportunities for companies in communicating marketing messages to targeted markets and capturing the attention of potential customers. Second Life has also been used by the travel and tourism industry as a collaborative and commercial tool for communicating with travelers in marketing tourism destinations (e.g. Tourism Ireland) as well as business management (e.g. Starwood Hotels; Crowne Plaza; STA travel agents). However, few studies have applied formal theory to understand the significance of virtual worlds to tourism destination marketing. The purpose of our study was to develop a research framework identifying the factors that affect tourists' experience and behavioral intentions within a 3D tourism destination by examining the applicability of the Technology Acceptance Model and Hedonic Theory. From a theoretical point of view, this study provides a research framework to capture the entertainment nature of virtual worlds and to reflect the concept that people in these worlds are technology users as well as potential consumers; it does so by extending the Technology Acceptance Model to incorporate the hedonic elements of enjoyment, emotional involvement, positive emotions, and flow experience for understanding the use of 3D virtual worlds within the context of travel and tourism. For destination managers, this study could help in designing engaging and interactive 3D tourism destination sites that contribute to an increase in people's interests in visiting the tourism destination in the future.     

Tourists' memories,sensory impressions and loyalty: In loco and post-visit study in Southwest Portugal

This study aims to offer some insights on the contribution of sensory diversity as perceived by tourists to memorable destination experiences and to explore the connection between long-term memory of sensory impressions and destination loyalty. The vital role of the sensory dimension of tourist experiences is stressed by current tourism research and supported by a multidisciplinary view on the role of the five external senses in human perception, memory, and behavior. While the marketing management approach highlights the importance of considering multisensory information in the process of facilitating positive and memorable destination experiences, there is a lack of empirical research to validate the theoretical literature. A two-step exploratory study was conducted in loco and six months after tourists' visits to Southwest Portugal. The findings suggest that perceived richer sensory tourist experiences may have a significant role in the long-term memory of individuals’ experiences, encouraging favorable tourist behavior towards destinations.     

ENGAGING TIMESHARE OWNERS IN TOURISM DESTINATION MANAGEMENT: TOURISM PLANNING AND TOURISM MARKETING IMPLICATIONS

It is important to understand tourists' willingness to participate in tourism planning and the factors influencing their willingness because they are an integral part of the destination and ultimately one of the main buyers of the product. Timeshare owners are a special group of tourists who have additional connections with the tourism destination through their timeshare. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships among timeshare owners' perceptions of tourism planning, civic engagement, sense of place, and willingness to participate in tourism planning.

This study was based on a questionnaire survey of U.S. timeshare owners. The total sample size was 302. A two‐stage structural equation modeling approach was applied in data analysis. Results from the measurement model suggested that the model fit the data quite well. Results from the structural model suggested that timeshare owners' perceptions of tourism planning, their past history of civic participation, and their sense of place significantly impact their willingness to participate in tourism planning, while timeshare owners' past experience in political participation did not significantly affect their willingness to participate in tourism planning. Implications of the findings in tourism planning and tourism destination marketing are presented.     

Attributes that influence the evaluation of travel dining experience: When East meets West

Many destination marketers have utilized gastronomy as a source of new products and activities to attract tourists. Despite the substantial rise in the Chinese outbound market, very little is known about how Chinese tourists evaluate their travel dining experiences. By using narrative analysis, this study examines attributes that may affect Chinese tourists' evaluation of their travel dining experiences. On-site participant observation and focus group interviews were conducted, respectively, with Mainland Chinese, Taiwanese, and Hong Kong group tourists, while they were on holiday in Australia. A total of 15 attributes were identified, which were classified under the following six categories: tourists' own food culture, the contextual factor of the dining experience, variety and diversity of food, perception of the destination, service encounter, and tour guide's performance. The respective implications of the attributes on travel dining experience are also discussed.     

Commercial hospitality in destination experiences: McDonald's and tourists' consumption of space

This paper examines the multiple roles that globalised, branded spaces of hospitality can play in tourists' experiences in destinations. It is argued that previous studies have not considered adequately how such commercial hospitality services and spaces interact with and influence tourists' experiences of places. Drawing on a netnographic analysis of online discussions of McDonald's, this study explores how tourists perceive these hospitality venues, and how they use them to engage with foreign destinations and negotiate the ‘work of tourism’. The data show how tourists (re)construct their identities through reflections on consuming McDonald's. The data also demonstrate that tourists critically evaluate discourses of authenticity and the (in)authenticity of consuming McDonald's. The paper concludes by discussing the implications for the marketing and management of McDonald's and similar branded commercial hospitality venues, the marketing and management of destinations, and it outlines avenues for further research.     

A proposed measurement scale for mixed-images destinations and its interrelationships with destination loyalty and travel experience

The purpose of this study is threefold; to develop a destination image scale for mixed-images destinations; to investigate its impact on destination loyalty between first-time and repeat tourists; and to explore the moderating role of tourist's travel experiences in the relationship between destination image and destination loyalty. Data were collected based on a quota sample from 400 international tourists in Egypt and were analyzed using exploratory factor analyses, confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and multi-group analysis. The results show that the proposed destination image scale has good reliability, validity, and predictability. It also supports the argument that tourists' cognitive and affective evaluations of the destination have significant effects on destinations' overall image. Additionally, while all destination image components have a significant impact on destination loyalty, those effects are significantly higher for repeat tourists than for first-time tourists. Finally, the study highlighted many practical implications for tourism marketers.     

Does destination nostalgic advertising enhance tourists’ intentions to visit? The moderating role of destination type

This study investigates the impact of nostalgic advertising and perceived destination types on tourists using four experiments. Study 1a and Study 1b revealed that destination nostalgic advertising is more likely to evoke tourists' history sense and further trigger visit intention, while destination non-nostalgic advertising is more likely to evoke tourists' fashion sense and further trigger visit intention. Study 2a and Study 2b revealed that perceived destination type plays a moderating role in these effects. Nostalgic advertising in utilitarian destinations is more likely to evoke tourists' history sense and further trigger visit intentions, while non-nostalgic advertising in hedonic destinations is more likely to evoke tourists’ fashion sense and further enhance visit intentions. These findings have valuable implications for destination marketers seeking to develop effective marketing strategies.     

THE TAIPEI MRT (MASS RAPID TRANSIT) TOURISM ATTRACTION ANALYSIS FROM THE INBOUND TOURISTS' PERSPECTIVES

Of all cities in Taiwan, Taipei is fully internationalized and best‐equipped with a completed metro public transit system. Taipei MRT Company is trying to increase the number of inbound tourists by providing a better travel experience and design different marketing strategies to increase better MRT tourism attraction. The study purposes are to investigate inbound tourists' considerations for choosing public means of transportation during their travel in Taipei City, conduct the tourism attraction analysis of Taipei MRT system from the perspectives of inbound tourists, and identify how inbound tourists' traveling behavior influence their perceptions of Taipei MRT tourism attractions. The study sampled 312 inbound tourists in August and September of 2006 by using a closed‐ended questionnaire. Factor analysis revealed five factors that can be attractive to inbound tourists: holistic, service, information, tourism image, and location attraction. The study result also indicated that inbound tourists with different socio‐economic characteristics, traveling behaviors, and different MRT experience have statistically different perceptions of Taipei MRT Tourism attractions.     

Temporarily returning to an ideal life: Research on Chinese rural tourists' home experience

Home and away’ makes up a fundamental dichotomy during journeys. However, the knowledge of tourists' home experiences is limited. This study investigates Chinese rural tourists' home experiences to extend home research to more general tourism patterns and short-term tourist groups. Adopting a qualitative method to collect tourists' home experience data with the help of pictures that they prepared in advance, the study found that home experiences are an important motivation for Chinese rural tourists. It was immersion in nature, connection with history, sense of ease in interpersonal relationships and engagement with the true self and inner freedom that provided rural tourists with home experiences. The home experiences are mainly inner feelings that manifest as identity awakenings and senses of belonging and are also a manner of dwelling in the world. Rural tourism destinations should pay more attention to the construction of homey surroundings to attract more itinerant urbanites to them.     

Predicting information seeking regarding hurricane evacuation in the destination

The study examined the roles of tourists' risk beliefs, connectedness, hurricane knowledge, and their past experiences with hurricane impacts in relation to their information seeking behavior regarding hurricane evacuation while in the destination. Surveys were collected from tourists who were visiting Florida in September 2011, during the Atlantic hurricane season. Findings from this study reveal and confirm the existence of the critical relationship among tourist information seeking, past experience with hurricanes, individual risk beliefs, and level of knowledge. It is recommended that destination managers make investments in hurricane communication messages, which target a wide array of tourists. The effectiveness of hurricane evacuation information is linked to the receptiveness of the content of the message by differing groups.     

A predictive model of tourist destinations based on tourists' comments and interests using text analytics

Data provided by tourists always benefit tourism managers and help them offer customized services, products and destinations to future travelers. This research investigates the effect of interests on Iranian outbound tourists, especially their selection of a destination and then, using text and data mining algorithms, it introduces a model to predict tourists' destinations based on their interests and travel backgrounds. In the current study, a dataset of 244,980 travels, consisting of 6661 people, was extracted from social media to discover the relationship between tourists' interests and travel destinations. Hence, it represents a model that is created using data and text mining from travel agencies to design their marketing plans by offering and advertising destinations to travelers with specific interest categories. The model has also shown promising accuracy and interesting results for the future tourist destination data and text analysis.     

Exploring the links between destination attributes,quality of service experience and loyalty in emerging Mediterranean destinations

Since the publication of the “Experience Economy” work by Pine and Gilmore in 1999, understanding the increasing complexity of the customer experience within the customer journey in the tourism industry is a priority for researchers and destination management organizations. This study contributes to the extension of the Experience Economy in tourism research by examining the links between tourists' assessment of destination attributes, their perceived quality of the service experience and loyalty, in seven emerging Mediterranean destinations. To date, little research has explored the aforementioned aspects, even though the Mediterranean region is the leading tourism destination in the world. With a sample of 1365 Mediterranean tourists, the analysis reveals differences between tourists' perceptions in Northern and Southern Mediterranean destinations. In addition, empirical support to the proposed model proves the direct impact of both variables on loyalty. The study outlines implications to both practitioners and researchers.     

The influence of recreation experience and environmental attitude on the environmentally responsible behavior of community-based tourists in Taiwan

This study examines the relationships between recreation experience, environmental attitude, and the general and site-specific environmentally responsible behavior of tourists at Taomi and Smangus in Taiwan. The first is an agriculturally based community and the second home to one of Taiwan's ethnic minorities. A total of 862 usable questionnaires (432 for Taomi and 430 for Smangus) were collected in this study. The empirical results indicate that recreation experience is positively and significantly related to environmental attitudes among tourists. Environmental attitudes are also positively and significantly related to general and site-specific tourist behaviors and mediate the relationship between recreation experience and environmentally responsible behavior. The paper contributes to the literature by examining the structural linear relationships between recreation experience, environmental attitudes, and environmentally responsible behavior. This study suggests that tourism destination providers should provide pro-environmental activities, ecotourism experiences, and interpretations of environmental issues to enhance tourists' environmental attitude and general and site-specific environmentally responsible behavior, thereby potentially reducing the adverse environmental effect produced by tourists during daily life and at tourism destinations. Reducing the adverse environmental effect of tourism destinations will benefit the development of sustainable community-based tourism.     

Roles of Films and Television Dramas in International Tourism: The Case of Japanese Tourists to the UK

It is believed that films and television dramas that are not directly concerned with tourism promotion have become a catalyst for tourism as publicity and promotional media for attracting tourists. This paper considers what roles films and television dramas play in influencing overseas tourists' behaviors in terms of their travel destination selection. The results from the survey of Japanese tourists to the UK gave evidence of a wide range of roles of films and television drams as different stages in respondents' destination choice processes. This paper concludes that films and television dramas have an ability to create destination awareness, consciousness, and images leading to a stronger interest in the destination and actual travel to the destination.     

Toward The Perspective Of Cognitive Destination Image And Destination Personality: The Case Of Beijing

Destination personality, as a viable metaphor of destination marketing, has attracted considerable attention, although empirical studies on this concept remain few. Based on tourism marketing literature, a model depicting the relationships among cognitive destination image, destination personality, and behavioral intentions is proposed. Using an on-site survey of 500 foreign tourists visiting Beijing, an emerging destination, the current study empirically validates that (a) competence, excitement, sophistication, and ruggedness are four building blocks of destination personality; (b) built environment, socially responsible environment, and local people are important in projecting destination personality; and (c) destination personalities—such as competence, excitement, and sophistication—drive tourists' behavioral intentions. The current study provides theoretical implication for knowledge advancement and managerial implications for destination marketing.