Residents’ attitudes toward the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai prior to and during the event

This paper examines residents’ attitudes to a major non-sport-related mega event, the 2010 Shanghai Expo. Resident attitudes research can ascertain how best to accommodate host community views, a key issue in developing sustainable tourism strategies. The paper breaks new ground by examining attitudes both before and during the event, revealing considerable fluidity in attitudes, and it examines residents’ attitudes in China, reflecting the importance of non-western cultural and political systems on attitude development. The paper contributes to longitudinal research, an area where little research is available. Two studies were conducted before and during the 2010 Shanghai World Expo using the same survey instrument. It is based on a representative sample of residents of Shanghai who were asked about their attitudes to Expo 2010. Results indicate that residents on the whole strongly supported (77.9%) or supported (12.7%) the event with all the average scores of the attitude items higher than 5 (on a 1–7 scale). Some negative impacts were identified such as increased prices, traffic problems, crowding and congestion. Residents were classified into three groups in the pre-event survey (whole embracer, ambivalent embracer and neutralist), according to their level of support, and two groups for the survey during the event.     

Why do They Come Back? The Effects of Winery Tourists’ Motivations and Satisfaction on the Number of Visits and Revisit Intentions

ABSTRACT

Few studies have examined the influence of winery tourists’ motivations and satisfaction on number of visits and revisit intentions. This study examined these relationships through 1602 online survey responses from former winery visitors. The data were analyzed through a series of multiple regression analyses. Findings show that among tourists’ motivations, the reputation, reviews, and perceived quality of the winery and its wines significantly affect the number of visits and revisit intentions, while media exposure affects revisit intentions. Further, visitors’ satisfaction with the winery significantly impacts revisit intentions. While visitors’ geographic proximity to the winery increased the number of visits, as expected, distance from the winery is shown to increase revisit intentions. Finally, the number of previous visits had a significant positive effect on revisit intentions.     

Tourists’ impulse buying behavior at duty-free shops: the moderating effects of time pressure and shopping involvement

This study investigates the consumer behavior of tourists at duty-free shops who experience different limitations on shopping than do consumers at general shopping malls. The target for sampling was outbound tourists who shopped in two hotel duty-free shops in Seoul, Korea. The final analysis used data from 343 respondents and the results revealed (1) the more positive the emotions felt by tourists, the more impulsive buying behavior occurs; (2) time pressure during shopping reinforces negative emotions, resulting in increased affective impulse buying; and (3) increased shopping involvement directly increases cognitive impulse buying.     

Estimating the intention–behavior gap associated with a mega event: The case of the Expo 2012 Yeosu Korea

Demand (attendance) forecasts are often based on respondents' intentions to attend an event or purchase a product. People, however, do not always act on their intentions; an intention–behavior gap exists. Limited research to date in the tourism realm has addressed this gap; that is, what proportion of visit intentions is actually realized. In this respect, this study investigates the intention–behavior gap based on a national survey using a quota sampling method (N = 2015) in the realm of visiting the 2012 Yeosu Expo.Results reveal that approximately 50% of the respondents who had intentions to visit the Expo actually visited the Expo. The stronger the intentions are to visit the Expo, the larger the percentage of respondents who acted on their intentions. Results contribute to potentially obtaining more accurate forecasts of attendance to mega events and how various factors influence the intention–behavior gap.     

Understanding tourists’ leisure expenditure at the destination: a social network analysis

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study is to identify spending patterns of tourists in relation to the leisure activities performed throughout their day-by-day stay at the destination. Using the methodology of social network analysis (SNA), a tourists–activities bipartite network was identified following a pattern known as core–periphery. The effect of this structure (including typology, number, and timing of performing the activities) on tourism expenditure is analysed using a multiple regression model, to which were added different sociodemographic variables and other variables related to travel. In order to better understand the portfolio of activities, four examples of networks are studied and visually represented. This study reveals that through SNA between tourists and activities, we can study the behaviour of tourists in a novel way.     

Exploring the effects of a ‘new’ listing of a UNESCO World Heritage Site: the case of Singapore Botanic Gardens

This study examines how the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage Site (WHS) listing impacts on push-pull factors, satisfaction and revisit intention. Data were collected on visitors to the Singapore Botanic Gardens before and after the WHS listing was awarded. The pre-listing and post-listing samples were compared and results revealed significant differences between the samples. Differences were observed for the importance of various push and pull factors as well as satisfaction and revisit intention. This study provides researchers and practitioners with greater insight into the effects of the WHS listing and recommends potential strategies for future marketing communications.     

Building a Total Customer Experience Model: Applications for the Travel Experiences in Taiwan’s Creative Life Industry

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the concept of an “experience economy” and its four dimensions (education, escapism, esthetics, and entertainment), experiential values, experience process clues, and the theory of behavioral intention. Data were collected from creative life industry visitors to develop and test a proposed model of total customer experience concepts. We employed structural equation modeling (SEM) to assess the proposed research model. The results supported the dimensional structure of a total customer experience in Taiwan. Our study results suggest that establishing a perfect experience and understanding of customer evaluations for the creative life enterprise should be extended to customer behavioral intention.     

Residents’ perceptions on the traffic impact of a special event: a case of the Macau Grand Prix

Special events may cause significant disruptions to the community and affect the daily lives of the local residents. This study examines how local residents perceive the traffic impact of a major tourism event, the Macau Grand Prix, which is an annual event that takes place on a circuit around the streets of the city, Macao. An exploratory factor analysis reveals five factors regarding the traffic impacts of the event, and the residents of different transportation modes have distinct views on the traffic measures. Bus transit and pedestrian traffic management is found to be the most effective. The result provides the event organizer implications and assessment for the traffic planning and management measures in gaining support from the community.     

Leadership,power and racism: lifeguards’ influences on Aboriginal people’s experiences at a Northern Canadian aquatic facility

Using a Foucauldian and postcolonial lens, this case study examines the ways in which leadership styles used by lifeguards and supported by the structure, rules and regulations at a northern Canadian swimming pool influenced Aboriginal people’s experience of the facility. Participant observation, semi-structured interviews and a focus group were used to identify the ways in which Eurocentric lifeguard training, exercises of power, institutional racism and an absence of cultural competency can intersect to influence Aboriginal people’s use of a local pool and their considerations of lifeguarding as a potential employment opportunity. On the basis of these findings, the study suggests that the development and implementation of anti-discriminatory policies and procedures for swimming pools and the inclusion of cultural competency teachings in lifeguard training are necessary measures to enhance Aboriginal people’s experiences at northern swimming pools, to foster opportunities to become lifeguards and to augment Euro-Canadian lifeguards’ capacity to maintain a safe and welcoming aquatic environment in a cross-cultural context.     

Satisfaction and positive emotions: A comparison of the influence of hotel guests’ beliefs and attitudes on their satisfaction and emotions

This research provides a comparative study of two comprehensive servicescape models to explore the underlying influence of various hotel elements on guests’ satisfaction with, and emotional responses to, their hotel stays. Based on the theory of reasoned action (TRA) and the theory of planned behavior (TPB), this research sought to identify the differences in guests’ beliefs and attitudes about the elements of hotels’ public areas, rooms, ambiance, social, and green practices in determining their satisfaction and emotions. Two structural models were developed illustrating the theorized interrelationships between identified constructs. Data collected through an online survey from 310 guests stayed in upscale hotels with four-star ratings were used for the analysis. Results from two structural models revealed that the model with attitudes is a better predictor of guest satisfaction and emotions than the model with beliefs. Further, emotionally attached guests engage more in WOM than did satisfied guests. Hotel managers need to offer experiences that consist of elements that matter to customers since customers’ attitude towards various service elements determine their satisfaction and emotional attachment with hotels. Additionally, in order to get brand promoters through WOM recommendations, hotels need to focus on emotionally attached customers than satisfied customers.     

‘What’s the Story in Balamory?’: The Impacts of a Children’s TV Programme on Small Tourism Enterprises on the Isle of Mull,Scotland

Film- and television-induced tourism effects have been witnessed in a number of locations world-wide, creating a range of positive and negative impacts for host communities and environments. The children’s television programme Balamory, filmed on the Isle of Mull, Scotland, has created a new tourism phenomenon for the island, leading to concern that Mull’s reputation as a green destination for the discerning might be displaced by a less desirable form of tourism. Through a questionnaire survey of tourism businesses on Mull, this paper explores the perceptions of television-induced tourism and the effect of Balamory on business activity during the 2003 season, exploring customer numbers, spending, turnover and profitability, along with attitudes to the new visitors. The research also explores the implications for sustainable tourism development, particularly recognising the limited life-span of film- and television-induced tourism and issues relating to displacement of traditional markets, with an emphasis on sustaining tourism as a means of generating revenue to support a rural island community.     

Hotel employees’ fun climate at work: Effects on work-family conflict and employee deep acting through a collectivistic perspective

Although the importance of workplace fun in hospitality organizations has been emphasized by scholars, discussion of the mechanism of a workplace fun climate in collectivistic cultural contexts is still rare in current literature. Therefore, based on a collectivistic perspective, this study aims to examine the effects of a three-component fun climate at work (socializing with coworkers, celebrating at work, and global fun at work) on employee deep acting and work-family conflict. A total of 389 usable survey responses were collected from full-time hotel employees in China. The results of this study reveal that socializing with coworkers and celebrating at work enhance global fun at work. Moreover, global fun at work significantly reduces employees’ work-family conflict and strengthens their deep acting at work. Findings of this study not only contribute to knowledge of understanding workplace fun climate in hospitality literature but also offer valuable practical implications to the hospitality industry.     

Leading a successful hotel: A look at the general manager’s ability to utilize multiple leadership styles

Using a case study format the researcher examines the leadership styles of three ultra-successful general managers (GMs) in select- and limited-service hotel environments. The study’s findings identify and characterize specific situations in which each GM was able to: 1) effectively utilize their primary leadership style and 2) intuitively shift to a non-prevalent style to accomplish a specific task. Applications of various aspects of leadership styles observed in the field were compared with the results of a formal leadership assessment. The cross-case analysis produced three dominant themes: 1) the GMs under study balanced the needs of their followers and guests; 2) while the GMs took three separate approaches to developing their followers, each built a cohesive management team with loyal employees; and 3) the GMs shifted leadership styles to help employees learn from their mistakes. Each GM utilized all aspects of their primary leadership style while also employing secondary styles when needed.     

Evaluating the London 2012 Games’ impact on sport participation in a non-hosting region: a practical application of realist evaluation

In the literature on Olympic legacies and impacts, there is a dearth of materials that specifically address the issue of Olympic impact for non-hosting regions. The literature tends to deal with impacts at a national level, or at a hosting-city region level, neglecting in large part the degree to which benefits can be leveraged by non-hosting regions. A further limitation identified in the literature is a failure to engage in detailed formal evaluation of policy implementation where assertions of potential policy impact are based on untested assumptions. This study is intended to address both of these concerns. It presents an empirical, ‘bottom-up’ application of a Realist Evaluation framework to assess the impact of a policy initiative – Workplace Challenge – aimed at leveraging enhanced sports participation in a non-hosting region – Leicestershire – in the period leading up to the 2012 Games. In doing so, it seeks to identify which causal mechanisms worked within this particular context to produce the observed outcomes. The evaluation results demonstrate that the programme represented a positive approach to fostering regular engagement with sport and physical activities for some groups in some types of organisations, and that awareness and motivational factors associated with the London 2012 Games are, in this case, linked (albeit weakly) to an increase in sport and physical activity participation for specific groups taking part in the programme in particular organisational contexts.     

The challenge of articulating human rights at an LGBT ‘mega-event’: a personal reflection on Sao Paulo Pride 2017

Abstract

This paper brings together Critical Event Studies (CES) and a reflexive/narrative autoethnographic approach in order to stimulate a debate around the commodification of public space, and the management of mega-events of dissent. This is achieved using the example of the researcher’s participation in the 2017 Sao Paulo Pride. Sao Paulo Pride is one of the largest LGBT demonstrations in the world. However, corporate interests in the event have commodified dissent in order to commercialise ‘otherness’, and the city has absorbed the demonstration into its cultural offer as a global brand. The confluence of these factors produces a pattern of place dressing and erasure that depoliticise the event and undermines its capacity to effectively articulate human rights. Currently Brazil has some of the most liberal LGBT laws of any South American state, yet recently Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT)/Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) human rights have been threatened by a rapid rise in hate crime and the emergence of an evangelical Christian right in state and regional assemblies. Within such a context the need to revive the roots of Pride as an articulation of otherness that demands recognition, and as a robust defence of human rights for the LGBT/SOGI community, is more pressing than ever.     

Dealing with pandemics: An investigation of the effects of COVID-19 on customers’ evaluations of hospitality services

The hospitality industry is highly vulnerable to pandemics. However, little is known about how pandemics alter travelers' evaluations of hospitality services. Therefore, this study investigates the changes in travelers' expectations and perceptions of hotel services during different stages of the novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. 98,163 Chinese hotel reviews were collected and scrutinized via text mining and sentiment analysis techniques to derive new implications for service optimization. The results reveal shifts in consumers’ evaluations well beyond hygienic requirements. Insights obtained from this research can help guide hospitality practice in organizing its priorities during acute pandemic situations and adjusting to possibly longer-lasting shifts in consumer preferences.     

‘I Was Trapped at Home’: Men's Experiences with Leisure While Giving Care to Partners During a Breast Cancer Experience

Men whose partners are diagnosed with breast cancer experience many changes to daily living, including taking on additional family and household roles and responsibilities, caring for their partner, and often relinquishing leisure activities. Although leisure participation has been found to help individuals cope and to mitigate the negative effect of traumatic life events, men's experience with leisure during their partners’ breast cancer experience has received little attention. The purpose of this study was to explore men's experiences with leisure and the meaning of those experiences during and following their partners’ breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. Semi-structured, face-to-face interviews were conducted with 10 men. The findings illuminate that men's leisure became more home-based, was used to release and regulate emotions, and provided a means to maintain identity. The illness experience also increased men's appreciation of leisure with their partners.     

‘It’s a Harsh Fact of Life with the RMA’: neo-liberalism and the realities of community sports facility development by the private sector in New Zealand

Despite the importance of facilities as primary sites for delivery of leisure and sport services, there has been a scarcity of academic literature on the provision of community sports facilities and the processes through which they are developed. In particular, this paper provides empirical analysis of leisure facility provision with a focus on practice and experience of policy and planning actors. By employing a case study approach and semi-structured interviews, the study identified a sharp contrast between the discourse of neo-liberalism and the realities of a highly regulated environment for the private sector under a national legislation of New Zealand, namely the Resource Management Act 1991. While both public and private actors recognised benefits of the resource consent process in mitigating the negative environmental impacts and facilitating public input, the findings also revealed its potential impediments to both private and philanthropic developments and their potential resultant benefits to communities and social citizenship due to its costly, restrictive and undifferentiated nature. Consequently, the paper suggests that future research needs to examine empirical evidence of how social citizenship and citizen engagement are enhanced by both public and private sectors through planning and development of community sports facilities and services.     

Residents’ Perceptions of the Role of Leisure Satisfaction and Quality of Life in Overall Tourism Development: Case of a Fast-Growing Tourism Destination – Macao

The previous literature has examined leisure satisfaction and quality of life but majority of studies were conducted in Western countries. Policy makers worldwide have struggled to balance residents’ leisure satisfaction and tourism development. This study is conducted in Macao, China, a fast-growing tourism destination in Asia. Results indicated that local residents’ leisure satisfaction is positively related to their perceived quality of life while local residents’ perceived quality of life is positively associated with their evaluation of the perceived benefits of tourism. The results generated from that evaluation positively lead to residents’ support of tourism development. Results indicated that it is worthwhile for the policy makers to invest resources in local residents’ leisure satisfaction and quality of life since this will eventually help to support tourism development. The results of this study provide significant implications for policy makers.