Bundling attractions for rural tourism development

Tourism is often regarded as a viable solution to economic crisis, especially for remote areas without many development options. While many tourism destinations have strong cultural or heritage assets, not all destinations have primary attractions that can bring visitors to the region. Rather than developing special interest “themes”, rural areas that do not have enough of any one type of tourism resource to act as a primary draw may consider bundling different attraction types to increase visitation. The purpose of this study is to investigate the preferences of visitors to secondary heritage sites and explore the relationship between heritage tourism and alternative, non-heritage activities in rural areas. Findings revealed that motivation to visit small-scale heritage sites consisted of two dimensions: learning and recreation. The two motivational dimensions influenced visitors’ interest in different heritage attractions and likelihood of visiting heritage tourism “scenarios”. As for alternative activities, there was a cluster of “popular” activities that were enjoyed by both learning-oriented and recreation-oriented respondents, but recreation-oriented visitors were more interested in nature-based activities and sport-related activities than learning-oriented visitors. Findings can help rural communities improve secondary attractions and diversify their tourism product by bundling heritage attractions with non-heritage activities.     

Virtual reality and mixed reality for second chance tourism

The deterioration of attractions, landmarks, artefacts and destinations is a critical issue facing tourism across the world. The closure of tourism sites and attractions is increasingly more common due to the difficulty and expense of managing preservation with onsite tourism engagement. However, the closure or destruction of tourism sites presents challenges for tourism development. The inability to foster meaningful visitor engagement at sites has implications for the local communities. This paper aims to explore the efficacy of creating tourism experiences in destinations and sites that have succumbed to over-tourism, resultant deterioration and even, destruction. To achieve this objective, the paper introduces the concept of second chance tourism and the role of innovative preservation methods such as virtual and mixed reality. Based on the proposed framework, the collation of data will provide indications on site preservation and impact mitigation via a second chance to reduce pressure on inherently fragile destinations.     

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。     

Developing creativity in tourist experiences: A solution to the serial reproduction of culture?

As culture is increasingly utilised as a means of social and economic development, the cultural tourism market is being flooded with new attractions, cultural routes and heritage centres. However, many consumers, tired of encountering the serial reproduction of culture in different destinations are searching for alternatives. The rise of skilled consumption, the importance of identity formation and the acquisition of cultural capital in (post)modern society point towards the use of creativity as an alternative to conventional cultural tourism. This paper considers the development of creative spaces, creative spectacles and creative tourism from the perspective of supply and demand. The need for creativity in developing new products and how to address the challenge of serial reproduction are discussed, and examples of creative tourism projects are examined and contrasted to traditional models of cultural tourism.     

Smart governance for heritage tourism destinations: Contextual factors and destination management organization perspectives

The sustainable development of tourism is a major concern for destination management organisations (DMOs) in heritage tourism. Smart tourism advocates claim that technologically-driven innovations can help DMOs to optimise tourism development by addressing issues such as carrying capacity, stakeholder management and community involvement. This study enhances the understanding of smart tourism governance (SG), showing how contextual factors affect DMO perspectives of SG. A mixed-methods approach was used to investigate heritage tourism destinations in the United Kingdom. The results demonstrate that well-established DMOs do not perceive SG as potentially beneficial, as they already perform well in many areas in which SG promises improvements, such as citizen engagement, decision-making, and stakeholder engagement. Despite this, this research highlights the aspects of SG that these destinations can take advantage of as social inclusion, environmental performance and the provision of citizen-centric services. All of these can help heritage tourism destinations to optimise their tourism development. This research additionally demonstrates the effect of contextual factors, such as the level of public-sector support for tourism and the growing influence of non-tourism stakeholders in destination management, on DMO perceptions of SG and makes recommendations for how developments in the use of SG by DMOs can be made, in light of these.     

In Search of Competitive Advantage in Caribbean Tourism Websites

Abstract

The intense competitiveness of the global tourism industry increasingly demands the most effective possible marketing for individual destinations. The strategic management literature suggests that competitive advantage can be gained through capitalizing on a destination's unique attributes. In marketing terms, this translates as “competitive positioning.” To what extent do the individual destinations of the Caribbean seek to competitively position themselves as unique attractions among their many competitors? This paper returns to the concept of the Unique Selling Proposition (USP) as a practical and straightforward framework for analyzing distinctiveness in tourism marketing. An exploratory analysis of web-based marketing in the Caribbean suggests widespread failure of destinations to market themselves in terms of unique competitive positioning. The analysis also reveals several exemplary models of the USP concept in tourism marketing, suggesting opportunities for greater regional cooperation through stronger individual destination identities.     

Design of a curriculum for destination studies

Since vocational tourism courses started at Sydney Technical College in 1973, there have been problems in teaching about tourist destinations. Historical analysis of the subject's development indicates that problems stem largely from an absence of tourism theory. Throughout this subject's development, there have been four major influences: the vocational needs of tourism students; the definition of tourism systems; the adoption of a primary orientation towards the study of the causes of tourism; and developmental work on the nature of tourist attractions. The current curriculum is described and it is suggested that due to these influences it overcomes many former problems with its integrated inter-disciplinary approach employing tourism theory as the core discipline.     

Motion Picture-Induced Visual,Vocal and Celebrity Effects on Tourism Motivation: Stimulus Organism Response Model

Motion pictures play a predominant role in enhancing the consumers' awareness of tourism destinations and inspiring their motivation to visit destinations. “Hallyu” (Korean Wave), a platform of Korean cultural exports, has altered the Korean tourism industry and now attracts travelers from around the world. Utilizing the popularity of the Korean Wave, the Korean Tourism Organization promotes Korean tourism attractions through motions pictures, including Korean films, television drama series, music and K-pop. The visual, vocal and celebrity effects which emanate from Korean motion pictures are expected to influence travelers' intent to visit and actual visitation. A questionnaire was distributed to Thai travelers and a total of 191 valid questionnaires were analyzed using regression analysis. The results indicate that visual and vocal effects emanating from Korean motion pictures fueled travelers' intention to visit Korea and explore Korean culture and tourism attractions. However, the results indicate no significant effect of celebrity endorsements on travelers' intentions.     

欠发达地区旅游中心地发展与演变——以南宁市为例

欠发达地区旅游中心地随着区域旅游业的不断发展,大多经历了旅游依托地向旅游集散地的发展历程.这种演变使旅游中心地所在的旅游区域随之形成旅游中心地体系,且其在此旅游中心地体系的等级也随着这一发展历程向更高等级演化.把握好旅游中心地这一演变发展规律并制定相应的旅游发展战略,是区域旅游规模不断扩展且持续良性发展的重要环节.     

滨海旅游目的地游客感知价值的影响因素研究——以广西北海银滩国家级旅游度假区为例

把握影响游客感知价值的关键因素,有助于促进旅游目的地竞争力的提升。以广西北海银滩国家级旅游度假区为研究区域,采用携程旅行网北海银滩游客网络评论资料作为研究样本,运用扎根理论方法构建包括5个主范畴和18个对应范畴的滨海游客感知价值影响因素模型,并运用复杂系统的决策实验和评估实验法（Decision making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory,DEMATEL）模型构建滨海游客感知价值影响因素的关系矩阵,识别影响滨海游客感知价值的关键因素。研究发现：资源和环境、管理和保护、设施和服务、情感和成本价值构成了滨海旅游目的地游客感知价值的重要维度,天气条件、海滩规模、海滩管理和保护、游客愉悦感、游客娱乐体验项目、旅游基础设施及服务是影响滨海旅游目的地游客感知价值的关键因素。据此提出促进我国滨海旅游目的地游客感知价值提升的相关建议。     

Seeing the forest for the trees: tourism and the International Year of Forests

The year 2011 is the United Nations International Year of Forests. In addition to performing extremely significant environmental, economic, and social services, forests are also important tourism attractions in their own right and locations for recreation and tourism activities. The limited statistical data available suggest that there are billions of tourism and recreational visits to forests each year. This paper provides a global overview of biodiversity conservation, protected areas, recreational access, and management objectives in forests before outlining some of the main themes in the relationship between tourism and forests. It concludes that there is a need for a research effort on tourism and forests in order to provide greater recognition for the economic and environmental contributions of tourism in forest areas as well as the overall value of forests for health and wellbeing.     

Linkages between creativity and intention to quit: An occupational study of chefs

Human resource issues persist as a vexation for tourism managers. Foodservice is a core component of many tourism destinations and attractions yet the foodservice labour market is historically volatile. This article reports on the findings of a job satisfaction survey of chefs working in Australia's tourism and hospitality industry. This study's aim is to determine empirically whether there is a positive relationship between creativity and job and occupational satisfaction. A customised instrument is designed to mitigate the shortcomings of generalising scale items and findings of generic job satisfaction surveys to a single occupation. This paper focuses on identifying a range of dimensions of job satisfaction and occupational attributes connected to creativity and its associated dimensions. Reliability and data reduction analyses were conducted to validate the construction of composite ‘creativity’ variables for the basis of further comparisons. The findings indicate that the sample ranks creativity more highly than working conditions and that there is a clear relationship between creativity and both organisational and occupational satisfaction. Results vary as a function of gender. In conclusion, theoretical and practical implications for occupational and tourism management are discussed.     

Authenticity and place attachment of major visitor attractions

This paper aims to explore the relationships between place attachment and perceived authenticity of major visitor attractions. The empirical study was conducted with a sample of international tourists to major visitor attractions in two capital cities, Helsinki, Finland and Jerusalem, Israel. The results indicate a positive correlation between place attachment and authenticity. Major visitor attractions located in places with considerable heritage experience value are considered more authentic, and that authenticity of visitor attractions is influenced by place attachment moderated by iconicity and heritage value of the destination region. These findings provide insight to the ways tourists perceive authenticity of visitor attractions and highlight the importance of the heritage value of tourism destinations for strategic planning and marketing purposes.     

Visitation of tourism attractions and tourist expenditure patterns ‐ repeat versus first‐time visitors

Marketing wisdom suggests that it is less expensive to reattract previous customers than to acquire new ones. Yet, few tourism destinations are actively trying to understand their current visitors in order to more effectively market to them. The present study analyzes international repeat and first‐time visitors to Rotorua, New Zealand, in order to gain insights into their respective visitation patterns of tourist attractions in the area, as well as their trip and expenditure patterns. The results of this study indicate that there are significant differences with regards to trip characteristics, and it offers a few insightful differences with respect to the attractions frequented.     

A green economy indicator framework for tourism destinations

This paper presents a green economy indicator framework for tourism destinations which has been developed in the case study destination of Bali, Indonesia. Whilst the term “green economy” can have many interpretations, here it refers to the global strategy framework surrounding Rio+20, as well as the policies and strategies being developed by tourism destinations as a response. Many uncertainties remain about the effectiveness of these efforts and how they may be measured. For lesser developed countries in particular, reliable data is often difficult to obtain and this study uses a case study approach to identify the relevant, and measurable, indicators in this context. First, a nominal group technique was applied to identify the green economy issues for local tourism stakeholders. The indicators were then selected based on the green economy literature and a review of the available secondary data for the destination. Data on greenhouse gas emissions from tourism was identified as one of the critical gaps and an estimate is provided to show how this could be obtained and monitored. While this indicator framework was developed specifically for Bali, the case study may be relevant for many other island destinations in the lesser developed world that are experiencing rapid tourism growth.     

Ecotourism and Simulated Attractions: Tourists' Attitudes Towards Integrated Sites in a Desert Area

This paper examines the attitudes of tourists towards a conceptual planning approach, which combines elements of ecotourism with themed and simulated attractions for sustainable tourism development in desert areas. Based on a survey of 453 tourists, the study examines respondents' preferences regarding the suggested contents and facilities of tourist attractions to be developed in the Israeli desert area of the Negev. The findings indicate that the respondents do not necessarily see contradictions between the seemingly irreconcilable ecotourism elements and themed simulations. They expressed clear preference for the development of sites with appropriate infrastructure and themed simulations that preserve local nature and culture. The findings are discussed within the frameworks of ecotourism, post-modern tourism, and tourism development in desert areas.     

EFFECTIVENESS CRITERIA FOR ICONS AS TOURIST ATTRACTIONS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND CHINA

As the application of human icons as tourist attractions continues to increase, there is a growing need to better understand how these famous individuals are used by destinations. Based on literature in several relevant fields, such as history, social science, and destination management, effectiveness criteria for icon attractions were analyzed in this study. Three “situational” factors influencing the operation of icon attractions (culture, history, and government involvement) were included in these criteria. It also suggested that icon attractions can be evaluated from three aspects: characteristics of icons, organization, and impacts. The applications of icon effectiveness criteria for tourist attractions in the United States and China were compared. The validity and practical value of the effectiveness criteria were demonstrated. Management implications in the utilization of icon attractions were derived.     

Tourism development in Cambodia: An analysis of opportunities and barriers

Cambodia has been perceived as one of the major destinations for development in the southeast Asia region. Information regarding the country and its attractions have been difficult to obtain. This study investigated the opportunities and barriers the Cambodian tourism industry now faces.     

Beyond Sun,Sand and Sea: The Emergent Tourism Programme in the Turks and Caicos Islands

Mass tourism began in the Caribbean in the 1960s with the advent of low cost air travel. Jamaica, Barbados, and the Bahamas were among the first places to develop a resort-based tourism programme. Within 20 years, these locations began to experience the problems that are now typically associated with unplanned growth. For emergent tourist destinations, these older islands can serve as a model of what not to do. One location that has taken some lessons to heart is the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) in the lower Bahamian archipelago. While TCI offers itself as a sun, sand and sea destination, tourism officials seek to attract upscale visitors with a long term investment in the islands. The problem they are wrestling with is how to develop an island image based not only on the sea-based amenities but also the local history, natural attractions and expressive culture. In response, a diverse heritage group has begun a dialogue about how to do this. This paper describes the current state of tourism in the TCI within the context of new directions in Caribbean tourism.     

After over 25 years of accrediting beaches,has Blue Flag contributed to sustainable management?

This paper examines the qualitative, quantitative, and geographical evolution (1987–2012) of the Blue Flag campaign and accreditation process in Spain, a leading coastal tourism destination heading the list of awards. The standard Blue Flag criteria for crowded, developed beaches are now adapting to new demands for natural beaches, but they still fail to capture essential sustainable tourism features, such as limiting user numbers, or preserving and restoring sand ecosystems. Given these shortcomings, some destinations are moving to alternative awards with a higher environmental commitment, such as EMS, ISO14001, and Eco-Management and Audit Schemes (EMAS). A cluster analysis of Blue Flag data for 983 beaches in Spain over 26 years revealed different behaviour patterns: established tourist areas that have always opted for the Blue Flag programme; tourist areas that adopted the Blue Flag early on but replaced it with ISO14001 and EMAS; recently developed destinations applying for the award to boost their tourism promotion; and tourist areas with no well-defined policy that have opted intermittently for Blue Flag. These profiles illustrate the different policies of Spain's Autonomous Regions, and they are useful for tourism managers to verify whether their destination's behaviour pattern contributes to sustainable tourism and matches strategic policies they have designed for them.