Utilizing environmental information and pricing strategies to reduce externalities of tourism: the case of invasive species in the Galapagos

The increase in demand for nature-based tourism brings economic and educational benefits but risks the introduction of invasive species. Increasing the length of tourist trips can better balance these benefits and risks by maintaining revenues while reducing the number of unique contacts with tourists. Changing the relative prices of trips can induce tourists to take longer trips. We hypothesized that providing information about the negative externalities of tourism could improve the effectiveness of such pricing strategies.

We administered one of two discrete choice surveys to tourists considering a trip to the Galapagos. One of the surveys described the Galapagos as a fragile ecosystem susceptible to invasive species; the second described it as a standard nature-based destination. For each sample, we estimated the probability of the tourist choosing a short versus long trip, given the tourist's personal information and trip options presented to him. We then simulated the demand for trips using three pricing strategies. We found that providing information on invasive species significantly increased the efficacy of strategic pricing. We propose using a two-prong approach to tourism management: educate potential tourists about the islands’ vulnerabilities, and simultaneously increase the per-day cost of short trips relative to that of longer trips.     

Applying destination attribute segmentation to health tourists: A case study of Polish spa resorts

The present research presents an effective segmentation of visitors to Polish spa resorts and thereby provides useful insights contributing to the understanding of the attributes determining the perceived spa resort’s image and nature of the delineated segments. The research is based on the findings from a self-administered questionnaire, an instrument consisting of 11 pull-motivational items, developed and used in a survey of 2050 Polish spa resort visitors. Based on destination attributes and relevant socio-demographic characteristics, a clustering method identified three distinct segments of visitors to Polish spa resorts.

Abbreviations: ANOVA: analysis of variance; NFZ: National Health Fund, ZUS Polish Social Insurance Institution; PCA: principal component analysis; WHO: World Health Organization     

The potential of international coastal mass tourism destinations to generate creative capital

This paper introduces a new line of research in international coastal mass tourism destinations. Such destinations have started to function in a more complex and potentially beneficial way, acting as transitional areas between the global city and local territory while at the same time developing their own unique characteristics. From this perspective, such destinations can potentially become environments for creativity and innovation, two factors that act as economic driving forces in the so-called “knowledge society”, thereby promoting the sustainable development of the destination from a socioeconomic perspective.

The methodology used herein develops 10 indicators that are calculated and mapped out for two case studies which examine the same geographical context and comparable populations in order to demonstrate the creative capacity of a location whose economy is heavily reliant on tourism. The results show that tourist destinations have greater potential for generating creative capital than non-tourist destinations. Therefore, the consolidation of international mass tourism destinations as creative and innovative spaces which are capable of generating creative capital without losing their competitiveness as tourist destinations merits a reconception of their current role in global–local networks.     

Korean and conventional medicine tourism industry trends as indicated in medical tourism advertisement images: qualitative research using data from medical Korea 2015

This study analyzed advertisement images targeting international audiences of South Korean medical facilities (traditional Korean and conventional medicine) participating in Medical Korea 2015 using thematic content analysis. The image categories most often used in conventional medicine were medical procedures, facilities, and staff photos, while those for traditional Korean medicine were medical procedures, staff photos, and images. Conventional medicine consistently presented high SERVQUAL tangibility scores, whereas Korean medicine displayed distinct associations between SERVQUAL categories and image size. Analyses suggested specialty preference by language. These findings may be used to recognize key messages in medical tourism and contribute to its systematic promotion.

Abbreviations: KHIDI: Korea health industry development institute; SERVQUAL: service quality     

The production of spaces of the ‘good life’ – the case of lifestyle migrants in Spain

In search for the ‘good life’, the current generation of European retirees is striving to materialise a self-determined way of life by moving to locations that provide a higher quality of life, such as the Mediterranean coast. Migrants’ leisure practises and distinct spatial features, e.g. leisure infrastructures, hereby frame a production of desirable spaces.

The contribution is theoretically informed by Henri Lefebvre’s theory of the production of space that suggests space to be a social product emerging from congruities and contradictions in a triad of practices, representations and localities. It is discussed how everyday leisure practices reproduce collectively or individually imagined representations of spaces of the ‘good life’ and how such spaces are contested.

The presented case study is mainly based on qualitative interviews depicting narratives associated with the realm of leisure. Empirical data were collected among German retirees, who relocated to a small municipality at the Costa del Sol (Southern Spain).

The analysis of empirical data reveals mostly consistencies within the realms representations, practices and localities, but depicts contestations of spaces of the ‘good life’ with regard to ongoing ageing processes. Lifestyle migrants ascribe meaning to practices of leisure in order to fulfil the desire for consuming tourist; sights that frequently represent highly symbolic places. Constructing notions of sociability with friends and acquaintances through leisure, the migrants hold meaningful social ties, which provide security through reliable networks. Nevertheless, this article points out that spaces of the ‘good life’ are deconstructed through age-related mobility constraints.     

With or Without You? Building a Case for Further MICE (Meetings,Incentive Travel,Conventions, Exhibitions) Development in Macao

Macao's gross gaming revenues have increased considerably in the past decade since casino liberalization to more than 6 times that of the Las Vegas Strip (Nevada). Macao's global dominance in gaming revenues is in contrast to Macao's meetings, incentive travel, conventions, and exhibitions (MICE) development. With comparisons to the Las Vegas Strip model of a balance between gaming and conventions, Macao's MICE industry has not advanced in tandem with Macao's casino expansion. Macao's bolstering gaming revenues have presented little incentive for most gaming operators to move beyond, with conventions and exhibitions remaining on the fringes of hospitality offerings as a supporting unit to casino product positioning.

As the Cotai Strip enters its second wave of integrated resort construction an increasing number of MICE, as well as other nongaming venues, will be included within the resort designs. A key vision behind casino liberalization, as well as an expressed wish by the Chinese authorities, is for Macao to diversify its tourism portfolio to include more MICE development. Examining Macao's casino tourism growth trajectory, this article suggests this limited growth in MICE could continue. Isolating key limiting factors, strategic actions are presented in the paper as approaches to further involve and potentially advance MICE development along Macao's Cotai Strip.     

Agroecological tourism: bridging conservation,food security and tourism goals to enhance smallholders’ livelihoods on South Pentecost,Vanuatu

Smallholder farmers continue to make up the largest proportion of the world's disadvantaged. Rural smallholders in the South Pacific are particularly vulnerable to climate change, underinvestment and growing competition for land and resources. Strengthening synergies between agriculture and tourism through avenues such as agritourism has been widely discussed; however, very little research has approached these concepts from a sustainability perspective. This case study of rural Ni-Vanuatu smallholders uses the Agroecology and Sustainable Rural Livelihoods Framework (ASRLF) to explore tourism's potential contribution to improved conservation and food security outcomes. Data collection combined participatory methods such as “storian sessions” with analysis of secondary data.

The findings highlight minimal current opportunities for rural Ni-Vanuatu smallholders to gain significantly from the tourism sector in Vanuatu. The shift from traditional gardening systems to cash cropping monocultures is also conflicting with tourism and conservation goals. This paper puts forward agroecological tourism as a strategy for integrating positive conservation, food security and livelihood outcomes for rural smallholders. It defines agroecological tourism as having a primary focus on the interpretation of sustainable traditional agroecosystems which exhibit cultural and heritage significance. Agroecological tourism has potential to support traditional practices, enhance the preservation of cultural knowledge and promote sustainable farming practices.     

Unraveling public support for casino gaming: The case of a casino referendum in Penghu

By integrating the social exchange theory (SET) and the theory of planned behavior (TPB), this study unravels the factors associated with residents’ intention to support casino gaming development in Penghu in future referenda. Residents’ attitudes toward casino gaming development in their community were examined in the SET framework while their intention to support such development was investigated in the TPB framework. Despite that partisan difference did not have a significant interaction with TPB variables, past behavior exerted moderating effects determining residents’ intention to support casino gaming development through two TPB variables: subjective norm and perceived behavioral control. Implications are provided.

Abbreviations: ATTU: attitude; DPP: Democratic Progress Party; ECOI: perceived economic impact; ENVI: perceived environmental impact; INT: intention to support casino gaming development in future referenda; KMT: Kuomingtang; PBC: perceived behavioral control; PPB: perceived personal benefit; SET: social exchange theory; SN: subjective norms; SOCI: perceived social impact; TPB: theory of planned behavior     

An examination of the role played by internships in nurturing management competencies in Hospitality and Tourism Management (HTM) students

This article examines how the development of management competencies occurs within Hospitality and Tourism Management education programs at a 4-year higher education institution based in the Midwest. Its purpose is to address concerns raised by industry on how universities can best prepare graduates for success in their careers. As a result, this article examines internships as a vehicle for identifying both the development of management competencies and conversely is used to ascertain potential deficiencies in students’ development and marketability.

The findings suggest that due to the disparate needs of students, educators and employers, discrepancies do exist between stakeholder perspectives concerning the most beneficial way to facilitate programs.     

The Use of Problematic Integration Theory to Assess Destination Online Promotion Activities

Abstract

This paper uses problematic integration theory to assess destination online promotional activities often used to influence consumer travel purchase behavior. The model of destination online promotion activities assessment focuses on the link between consumers' online brand preference drivers (differentiation, quality, and value) and online market data (price, distribution, Web presence, promotions, direct online communication tool, and ad identification). The model is tested using the case of Australia (www.australia.com) and their efforts to attract a U.S. market. The study found Australia.com is a well-designed travel guide that provides information and emphasizes its aesthetic aspects. However, the Website's interactive aspects could be improved. By assessing destination online promotional activities, destination marketing organizations may be able to reduce underlying uncertainty regarding the destination and more clearly address the needs of their target markets.     

Tourism and Waste Management: A Review of Implementation of “Zero Waste” at Kovalam

According to the latest concepts, waste is a visible face of inefficiency in terms of material utilization. Waste handling is a major concern, especially since improper waste treatment causes increased environmental deterioration. The last few decades have seen the emergence of new measures to handle waste effectively, but most of them are not flawless. “Zero waste”, an innovation of the 1990s in waste handling, emphasizes planning for the elimination of waste rather than managing waste (Sheehan, 2000, cited in Connett & Connett, 2000 Connett, P. and Connett, E. 2000. Zero waste: a new vision for the 21st century. Waste Not, #463, Retrieved 25 January 2007 from http://www.grrn.org/zerowaste/articles/21st_cent_vision_zw.html [Google Scholar], Waste Not, #463, http://www.grrn.org/zerowaste/articles/21st_cent_vision_zw.html, section 3). The growth of tourism as one of the largest industries in the world calls for effective waste management measures. Kovalam, an international beach destination situated in the southwestern corner of India, has been experiencing intensive tourism activities since the 1960s. Zero waste was introduced experimentally by “Thanal”, a voluntary organization based at Thriruvanthapuram at the beginning of this century at Kovalam, to ameliorate the burgeoning problem of waste in this destination. In this paper, an attempt has been made to introduce the concept of “zero waste” and to review its implementation at Kovalam.     

The Evaluation of Sustainable Tourism Development by Analytic Hierarchy Process and Fuzzy Set Theory: An Empirical Study on the Green Island in Taiwan

Sustainable tourism development (STD) has recently become a tourism management guideline. STD meets the needs of present tourists and host regions while protecting and enhancing opportunities for the future. It is envisaged as leading to management of all resources in such a way that economic, social and aesthetic needs can be fulfilled while maintaining cultural integrity, essential ecological processes, biological diversity and life support systems (World Tourism Organization, 2004, Concepts & Definitions: Sustainable Development of Tourism Conceptual Definition. Retrieved 12 August 2004 from http://www.world-tourism.org/frameset/frame_sustainable.html). The purpose of this study is to propose an evaluation procedure of STD and illustrate how it can be applied empirically to a specific destination. Green Island in Taiwan, which lies in the Pacific Ocean, was selected to act as our empirical case due to its rich resources but threatened sustainability. First, we collected indicators of STD from the literature about small islands. Second, the Delphi technique was used to refine and identify the final indicators for STD evaluation according to the characteristics of our study case. Third, we calculated the criteria weights by applying the Analytic Hierarchy Process after constructing the evaluation criteria hierarchy. Finally, the measurement of performance corresponding to each criterion was conducted under the setting of fuzzy set theory. The results illustrate that our empirical case still needs more work in order to achieve its goal of sustainable tourism development. We also provide some managerial implications for the stakeholders such as tourism authorities, tourism businesses, local communities and academics.     

Towards a Conceptualization of Unethical Marketing Practices in Tourism: a Case‐Study of Australia's Inbound Chinese Travel Market

This paper has a twofold purpose: to identify the types and impacts of unethical practices in an international travel market and to offer a generic model to enhance our understanding of the causes and consequences of such practices. The Chinese outbound market is used as a case study. The choice of China is timely and appropriate, given that the country is forecast to be one of the world's major outbound markets by 2010 with over 100 million leaving mainland China (World Tourism Organization [WTO], 2006 World Tourism Organization. 2006, November 7. The Chinese outbound tourism market Retrieved March 19, 2007, from http://www.unwto.org/media/Releases/2006/november/chineseoutbound.htm [Google Scholar]). The research setting is the Chinese inbound tourism market to Australia where the Chinese market has grown substantially since Approved Destination Status (ADS) was granted in 1999. The implications of this research for European and North American tourism operators are significant, given the 2005 agreement between the European Commission and the Chinese authorities that allows group travel from China into Europe. Using the long‐interview technique with industry participants in Australia and China a conceptual framework of the environment in which unethical practices occur is provided. A model illustrating antecedents, impacts, and outcomes of unethical practices is offered. Key managerial findings include the unhealthy consolidation of channel power in the Chinese market and the influence of ethnic networks across borders. Several key issues requiring further research are highlighted.     

The Cognitive-Affective-Conative Model of Destination Image: A Confirmatory Analysis

ABSTRACT

Destination image influences tourist behavior before, during, and after travel, as it is an important instrument which contributes to tourists’ loyalty. Although Gartner (1993 Gartner, W. 1993. “Image formation process”. In Communication and channel systems in tourism marketing, Edited by: Uysal, M. and Fesenmaier, D. 191–215. New York, NY: The Haworth Press.  [Google Scholar]) advocates that the cognitive, affective, and conative dimensions of destination image are hierarchically interrelated, there is no empirical evidence to support the complete model. This study aims to test the hierarchical nature of the relationship between the dimensions of destination image. The results of structural equation modeling confirm Gartner's theoretical model, validating the theory that the influence of the cognitive component on the conative dimension is higher when mediated by the affective component, raising managerial implications.     

Research on Foreign Tourists’ Satisfaction with the 2010 Shanghai World Expo: Based on the Blogs at a Travel Website

By applying the methods of content analysis and importance-performance analysis to the blogs on http://www.travelblog.org, a popular international website for travel bloggers, this study identifies that foreign tourists’ satisfaction with the 2010 Shanghai World Expo mainly depended on three dimensions: The urban environment, the quality of tourists’ visit to the Expo, and the tourists’ own status. Based on fuzzy evaluation and importance-performance analysis, the study concludes that foreign tourists’ overall degree of satisfaction with the Shanghai World Expo is 6.15 on a 10-point scale and suggests that the quality of exhibits, the touring environment, staff training, and tourist behavior are key elements in the on-site management of major events.     

Toward an integrated model of tourist expectation formation and gender difference

This study aims to build and test a theoretical model of tourist expectation formation and seeks to explore the gender differences regarding how tourists form their expectations toward a travel destination. Survey data were obtained from 774 outbound Chinese tourists to Macao, and structural equation modelling was used to test the model and proposed hypotheses. The results reveal that travel motivation, advertising, and word-of-mouth (WOM) recommendations influence travelers' cognitive image and cognitive image interacts with affective image to form individuals' expectations toward travel destinations. Notably, the impacts of travel motivation and advertising on cognitive image, and of cognitive image on tourist expectations were significantly stronger for males than females, while the effects of WOM on cognitive image and of affective image on tourist expectations were stronger for females than males. Both theoretical and practical implications of these important findings are discussed.     

目的地网络界面对旅游者体验及品牌形象的影响

旅游目的地推广营销所使用的官方网站、微博、电子商务平台等网络渠道构成了旅游者接触目的地的网络界面。旅游目的地网络界面特征主要包含信息价值、友好性和交互性3个要素。为探索旅游目的地网络界面对旅游者体验及品牌形象的影响,构建了旅游目的地网络界面特征、旅游者体验与目的地品牌形象的结构方程模型。研究发现,旅游目的地网络界面特征的3个要素通过功能体验和情感体验两个中介因素影响游客对目的地品牌形象的感知,但信息价值对情感体验的影响不显著。基于以上结论,对旅游目的地优化网络界面提出了策略建议。     

A Missing Link in Understanding Revisit Intention—The Role of Motivation and Image

This study addresses two gaps in the research on tourist revisit intention: the impact of the pre-visit psychological factor of travel motivation and its relationship with destination image. Path analysis is adopted to examine the relationships among destination image, travel motivation, and revisit intention in a rural tourism context. A causal relationship is detected between three motivation dimensions, two image dimensions, and revisit intention. All three motivational constructs (intellectual, escape, and belonging) exert a significant influence on the cognitive dimension of image, whereas only the motivation construct of escape is significantly related to the affective dimension of image. A causal relationship is also identified between the affective dimension of image and revisit intention.     

黑色叙事对旅游目的地引致形象的影响机制

"讲好故事"已成为塑造和传播国家和地方形象的重要手段。以"讲故事"为手段打造旅游目的地形象是一种国际通行的旅游目的地营销方式。现有旅游目的地叙事研究开展还很不充分,关注的叙事偏重于正面叙事材料,对负面叙事的关注还很不够。文章着眼于黑色叙事对旅游目的地引致形象的影响机制,以德国首都柏林作为研究案例,以著名历史游记《柏林:一座城市的肖像》(Berlin:Imagine a City)中关于柏林的系列黑色叙事和柏林旅游局在微信公众号发布的图片作为实验材料,通过招募志愿者参与包括4个阶段的混合研究设计,验证黑色叙事对柏林旅游目的地形象(认知、情感及意动)的复杂影响。研究的主要理论贡献在于:首先,验证了黑色叙事对旅游目的地形象具有显著影响,实证该影响主要透过"叙事主角-游客-自我形象一致性"这一主线发挥作用,明确了黑色叙事主角形象对黑色叙事引致旅游目的地形象的影响机理,丰富了叙事传输理论相关结论。其次,验证了黑色叙事引致情感形象在黑色叙事影响旅游目的地形象过程中的影响效应,发现黑色叙事引致情感形象(而非认知形象)是黑色叙事最终能够影响游客动机的关键。最后,在黑色叙事这一特定研究情境中,验证了目的地认知形象对"情感形象影响意动形象"具有"增强调节效应",丰富了现有旅游目的地形象"认知-情感-意动"三联结构理论。文章在此基础上提供了相应的管理和营销建议。