All hype or the real deal? Investigating user engagement with virtual influencers in tourism

Virtual influencer (VI) marketing has become increasingly prevalent on social media with the evolving landscape of digitalisation. However, the use of VIs in tourism has received limited attention in the literature. This study examines salient source and content attributes that stimulate Instagram users’ engagement with VIs in a tourism context. An online discrete choice experiment was designed using key attributes (i.e. source realness, image composition and caption discourse) identified from online focus groups. Survey responses from 309 adult Instagram users in Australia were analysed through discrete choice modelling. The findings indicate that humanlike VIs are preferred over 3D animated VIs and the least preferred influencers are 2D animated VIs. Instagram posts from humanlike VIs that combine images of tourism settings with rational messages attract the most engagement from the audience. Theoretical and practical implications are provided with recommendations for how tourism practitioners can harness VI marketing effectively.     

Evaluating user-generated content in social media: an effective approach to encourage greater pro-environmental behavior in tourism?

Appealing to tourists’ intrinsic interest for high-quality tourism environments, and thus encouraging them to act with a greater sense of personal responsibility toward the environment, could be critical to promoting sustainable tourism. Proliferating media channels makes the choice, style and delivery of pro-environmental messages a key issue for tourism marketers and management. Social media has become a recognized important channel for tourism information, with user-generated content (UGC) being more trusted than official channels, yet there is little knowledge about its potential role in activating pro-environmental norms. This study investigates that issue. Focusing on the conjoining aspects of personal and social norms for the first time, we propose a hypothetical model to explain the direct and indirect effects of pro-environmental UGC in activating tourists’ pro-environmental behavioral intentions. Working in a Chinese context, where social media plays an increasing role, the research, using a web-based sample (N = 1043), UGC-linked pro-environmental knowledge and awareness, was found to have a strong role in activating pro-environmental norms, creating a pro-environment online community, and increasing tourists’ level of engagement in pro-environmental social media activity. The study highlights the effectiveness of social media channels with UGC providing persuasive communications able to impact sustainable behaviors.     

To dine or not to dine? Collective wellbeing in hospitality in the COVID-19 era

The hospitality industry has been hard hit by the ongoing pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus. As restaurants develop comprehensive reopening plans, consumers may still have mixed feelings about simple things such as going out for a meal. This paper explores wellbeing perceptions of restaurant diners. Based on the analysis of semi-structured interviews, this paper reveals that wellbeing in hospitality is a collective concept comprised of multiple domains of a service system, including macro, meso, and micro levels. Furthermore, this paper provides strong support to show that wellbeing is not only sought collectively, but also is determined by consumers’ wellbeing perceptions of both themselves and others around them, and thus contributes to the wellbeing literature in the hospitality domain. Finally, this paper identifies potential concerns regarding crowding and behaviors of other guests, which extends the hospitality literature on perceived territoriality. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed in detail.     

Social media marketing in wine tourism: winery owners’ perceptions

This paper examines winery owners’ attitudes and perceptions regarding the use of social media in marketing and promoting wine tourism online. Empirical evidence is provided by a sample of 20 winery owners in the North Italian region of Langhe, who have engaged to a greater or lesser extent in social media. The findings show that while the majority of winery owners recognise the social, economic and emotional benefits of social media, they are far from exploiting its full potential, partially due to barriers such as their agricultural mentality and the time-consuming nature of social media.     

Wine tasting: To charge or not to charge?

In Australia there is an inconsistency of practice between cellar door operators as to whether they charge for a wine tasting or not. The liquor licensing legislation in each State permits cellar door operators to charge for a wine tasting. Some charge for tastings but deduct this from any purchase made, some provide food to accompany the tasting and others provide a free tasting. This paper considers the practice from a consumer’s (wine tourist’s) viewpoint. A survey was conducted of wine tourists who have attended a cellar door wine tasting to gauge their attitude about charges for wine tastings and probable impacts on their purchasing decisions. The majority expressed a preference for free tastings and stated they would not stay if there was a charge for tastings. However, some tourists were willing to pay in a range of circumstances, depending on the services provided and overall experience.     

To Ban or not to ban rate parity,that is the question… or not?

Considering the heated debate in the hotel industry about the rate parity clause and the appropriateness of its ban to give rise to rate disparity, this article analyzes the hotel performance that has resulted from the rate parity prohibition established in some European countries, by looking into the market value of the hotels involved. The empirical analysis conducted on a sample of hotel companies trading on the stock exchange in Germany and France shows that the approval of the rate parity ban generates positive abnormal returns. However, an increase in risk is detected. It seems that, while the prospects of greater autonomy to set prices in the hotel industry and stronger competition in the online distribution industry are looked at positively, the hotels will have to deal with a customer’s potential higher perception of price unfairness, less control over its own brand and a greater likelihood of price wars.     

Business attitudes to sustainable tourism: Self‐regulation in the UK outgoing tourism industry

Much debate about sustainable tourism has focused on how to change business practices which lead to environmental and social damage in tourist destinations. There is much disagreement between campaigners, who wish to make industry more responsible for sustainable tourism, and companies, which fear regulations may damage business performance. Many companies have adopted their own practices of sustainable tourism. Yet these are sometimes criticised by campaigners for being superficial. This paper describes research undertaken to list current practices of self‐regulation adopted by the UK outgoing tourism industry, and to identify how far these satisfy principles of sustainable tourism identified by campaigners. The research also identified perceived obstacles to the adoption of sustainable practices, and how practices could operate in the commercial favour of companies. Results indicated that many companies saw sustainable tourism practices to be of commercial benefit; in particular, they could add value to holiday products, thus allowing companies to compete with each other on more than price alone. However, most sectors of the industry said that host governments, rather than they, were ultimately responsible for sustainable tourism. The survey therefore concluded that the industry was in favour of long‐term regulation, but this was not being achieved by current self‐regulation. A better understanding of the commercial opportunities of sustainable tourism may enable companies to take a more proactive role in seeking change.     

Does size matter? Corporate social responsibility and firm performance in the restaurant industry

Despite an increasing number of hospitality studies on the link between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate financial performance (CFP), the literature has predominantly focused on the CSR–CFP relation without considering moderating factors. Consequently, the current study introduces firm size as a potential moderator on the CSR–CFP relationship. Performing a two-way fixed-effects model by firm and year with Newey-West standard errors, this study finds that firm size moderates the effect of positive CSR on CFP while it does not moderate the effect of negative CSR on CFP in the U.S. restaurant context.     

Taxing tourism: enhancing or reducing welfare?

Using a modified simple general equilibrium model of international trade, the theoretical construct proposed by this research note shows that taxing tourism may increase or decrease economic benefit depending on the destination's market power. Yet, from a social point of view, taxing tourism can be welfare-enhancing, as externalities of rapid tourism growth should be internalized. Therefore, a social rather than a private optimum should be pursued via taxing tourism in order to guarantee sustainable tourism. From political economy perspectives, however, the actual taxation policies may not be welfare-enhancing, as they heavily depend on the political system and power relations in the destination.     

Robot chefs in gastronomy tourism: What's on the menu?

The use of robots in hospitality and tourism is rapidly evolving. Restaurants progressively include robots as part of their staff, not only as waiters but also as chefs. The robotization of tourism and gastronomic experiences is a vital challenge that both service providers and customers need to cope with. Within this context, the paper investigates the perceptions of tourists towards the use of robots in restaurants. Drawing from a qualitative research design and built on a grounded theory approach, the results reveal the opportunities derived from the implementation of robots in hospitality and tourism. On the other hand, tourists also perceive the growing presence of robots in food services as a form of dehumanization of the gastronomic experience. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed with regard to a new experiencescape that is increasingly dominated by human-robot interactions.     

Sharing versus collaborative economy: how to align ICT developments and the SDGs in tourism?

Great hopes have been placed in the sharing economy to provide a new business model based on peer-to-peer (P2P) exchanges of underutilized assets. As a model, the sharing economy has been expected to make significant contributions to sustainability, providing new opportunities for entrepreneurship, more sustainable use of resources, and consumer co-operation in tight economic networks. However, in recent years, digital platforms have turned into the most important actors in the global sharing economy, turning global corporations, such as AirBnB, Booking, or TripAdvisor into intermediaries controlling and profiting from most transactions. Focused on accommodation, this paper conceptualizes the sharing economy in comparison to the wider collaborative economy, and discusses its social, economic, environmental, and political impacts in comparison to the sustainable development goals. It concludes that the sharing economy has great potential to make very significant contributions to sustainability, though the model is increasingly being replaced by the collaborative economy, which performs as an extension and acceleration of neoliberal economic practices.     

Opportunity or threat? Finnish hunters’ attitudes to hunting tourism

This article examines elements of the social sustainability of hunting tourism development by scrutinising Finnish hunters’ opinions on three possible scenarios related to hunting tourism: the threat of an exclusion of local hunters, the threat of rising rents of hunting land and the threat to Finnish hunting customs and practice due to increasing numbers of foreign hunting tourists. Hunters’ positions on these three issues are mapped and the determinants of their attitudes are analysed using unique national survey data on Finnish hunters and their attitudes (N= 1193). The results show a clear ambivalence to hunting tourism among hunters. While a majority of hunters tend to view hunting tourism as a threat, a large minority relate to it more positively. These attitudinal patterns can be explained only partly by socioeconomic factors, whereas factors pertaining to hunting experience and hunting profile play a somewhat more prominent role in understanding the legitimacy that hunting tourism enjoys in the eyes of hunters in Finland. Age, rural residence and participation in wildlife management are also found important for some issues. The ambiguities revealed could pose major problems for social sustainability and hunting tourism management and development.     

Visitors with their ‘Backs to the archaeology’: religious tourism and archaeology

This paper presents a conceptual analysis of the crossover between religious tourism and archaeology. It begins with a clarification of what religious tourism is and continues to consider the link between archaeological sites, religious heritage and religious tourism. It then moves on to a supply-focused typology of sites and a typology of visitors according to their characteristics. It also discusses the primary conflicts existing today between archaeology and religious tourism. In light of this discussion, it concludes with thoughts on possible future research needs. The paper conceptualized the multiple relationships between religious tourism and religious archaeology. Archaeological remains that also serve as attractions for religious tourism appear to have unique characteristics, the understanding of which is important for long-term planning and development that will take into consideration archaeological, religious, political, and tourism needs. A better understanding of these contexts may also ultimately contribute to our understanding of the development versus conservation arguments facing archaeological areas.     

The effect of China's open-door tourism policy on Taiwan: Promoting or suppressing tourism from other countries to Taiwan?

This study employs an extended gravity model to analyse the complementarity or competitiveness relationship of the number of inbound tourists and corresponding tourism revenue between China and 19 other nations under the implementation of China's Open-door Tourism Policy to Taiwan in 2008. A simulation for 2018–2021 demonstrates the sustained impact of this policy. The results show that the number of tourists to Taiwan from China reached its peak in 2015 at 41% and will decrease to 9% by 2021. The corresponding tourism revenue will decrease from 49% to 11% over the same period. The results also show that if the number of tourists from China remains above 836,772, the number of tourists from Japan, Hong Kong, Australasia, North America, and Europe will still increase. However, the number of tourists from South Korea and South and Southeast Asia will increase continuously regardless of tourists from China, even far below 836,772.     

An integrative framework for sustainability evaluation in tourism: applying the framework to tourism product development in Finnish Lapland

The adoption of sustainable practices has become widespread in tourism and has led to the proliferation of sustainability evaluation tools. They focus mainly on measuring outcomes, making scientific expertise an essential part of evaluations. This study argues that involving stakeholders throughout the evaluation process is essential if evaluation is to play a role in promoting the necessary understanding of sustainability to address the ecological and social concerns within a tourism setting. Drawing upon multi-stakeholder thinking, ethics, the Bellagio Principles and action research, this paper introduces a theoretical and methodological framework for engaging tourism organisations in collaboration with stakeholders in planning and implementing sustainability evaluations. The application of the framework is illustrated using a study of tourism product development, involving a group of eight craft-based entrepreneurs and their stakeholders in Finnish Lapland. A focus is placed on using ethical theories to promote dialogue and critical reflection and to expose the plurality of moral orientations behind the multiple views of sustainable tourism. Through discourse analysis, four moral discourses, ethical egoism, utilitarianism, deontology and virtue ethics, are constructed and examined. The paper shows how each influences the various ways in which stakeholders perceive sustainable tourism and the practical outcomes of the process.     

Thailand wine tourism: a dream or a reality?

Conventionally, wine tourism is mainly popular in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the Europe regions. Interestingly, Thailand, despite being a young wine-producing country, has emerged as a potential wine tourism provider within the Southeast Asia regions. This research aimed to evaluate the competitiveness of Thailand wine tourism’s within its regional growth. Porter’s Four Diamond Model was used as a tool to assess this industry competitiveness. Three wineries in Thailand were visited and qualitative approaches comprising interview and observation were utilized as the means of data collection. Triangulation was used to analyze the reliability of the data gathered. The finding showed that wine tourism in Thailand was still an infant industry as most tourists and tourism operators were still not aware of the product offered. However, the wineries themselves had already owned the competency to serve the market.