‘Freedom footprints: the Barbados story’ – a slavery heritage trail

ABSTRACT

Freedom Footprints: The Barbados Story is a heritage trail created around six slavery landmarks. The trail is an outcome of Barbados’ Slave Route Signage Project, implemented by the Ministry of Tourism with the aim of identifying sites of memory linked to the Transatlantic Slave Trade and slavery, researching them and installing interpretive signage. Freedom Footprints was piloted in 2011 with much fanfare and sold-out tours. However despite significant publicity prior to and during the pilot, the voices touting the trail as an outstanding heritage tourism attraction have all but fallen silent. The reasons for this silence are unknown. A case study on Freedom Footprints was developed using a combination of stakeholder interviews, observations, analysis of media reports and archival research, among others. Indications are that the trail has potential to attract both the local and tourist market. However appropriate marketing strategies must be implemented for the trail to achieve desired outcomes.     

TouRes: Scale development and validation of a tourist resilience scale

Resilience in a tourist context describes the capacity for individuals to use psychological and social resources to adapt and bounce back from adversity. We theorize tourist resilience as a multi-dimensional construct consisting of four dimensions – preparedness, adaptiveness, social support, and risk reduction – and describe the development and validation of a behavioural measure of tourist resilience (TouRes). In study 1 (n = 260), exploratory factor analysis supports the four-dimensional structure of TouRes. In study 2 (n = 284), confirmatory factor analysis substantiates the scale's factor structure, and its convergent and discriminant validity. Data from study 2 and study 3 (n = 386) were also used to ascertain nomological and predictive validity of TouRes against various measures. Developed in the general context of unexpected changes to travel and destination experiences, TouRes can also be used to assess tourist resilience relative to travel plans disrupted by disasters and pandemics. Theoretical and managerial implications are offered.     

Third world tour landscapes

This paper focuses on landscapes experienced by tourists on package tours to India. It examines how structure and content of 13 package tours create landscape experiences for the mass tourist which have little coincidence with the experiential reality of India. In this case, package tours encapsulate the visitor in vehicles and hotels in isolation from authentic environmental stimuli. Tours also direct tourists toward northern cities at the expense of southern and rural culture realms. Modern urban settings overshadow traditional ones and itineraries stress monuments to the past over current, every-day events and activities. Thus the tourist on a package tour, although inside India, is rendered an outsider to Indianness.     

An investigation of perceptions of social equity and price acceptability judgments for campers in the U.S. national forest

In spite of the significance of social equity in determining appropriate fee levels for activities such as camping in public nature-tourism resources, there has been little understanding of the mechanisms that (a) influence the debate over scale and (b) the conditions that are used in fee determination. The main objective of this study is to investigate the decision making process that predicts social equity judgments and price acceptability of user fees for activities such as camping in protected areas (including parks) and outcome the variables. In this study of Wasatch-Cache National Forest in northeastern Utah using conjoint analysis the results indicated that the extent of public input was the most prominent predictor of social equity judgment at p < 0.01. The second highest part-worth coefficient was obtained in support of low user fees (a hypothetical scale of $3.00 vs. $8.00). The magnitude of the part-worth coefficients for price acceptability showed that the highest part-worth coefficient was a fee level of $3.00. The next highest part-worth coefficient was in support of revenue being used to maintain the quality of the site. It was also found that that “extensive public input” was an important predictor of social equity.     

The embodied tourist experiences of people with vision impairment: Management implications beyond the visual gaze

This paper reports the findings of a qualitative study that investigated the embodied tourist experiences of 40 people who are vision impaired. The study, informed by the concept of “embodied ontology”, explored the corporeal and socially constructed experience of tourism. The findings highlighted the benefit of holidays for the participants and de-centred the “visual gaze” in the tourist experience. The quality of the tourist experience related to participants’ feelings of inclusion or exclusion in terms of their access to information, experience of wayfinding, travelling with a guide dog, and the knowledge and attitudes of others. It was evident that participants needed to manage their tourist experiences closely and constantly. The paper concludes that the tourism industry and community must understand the multi-sensory nature of the tourist experience if quality accessible experiences are to be available for tourists with vision impairment. Provision of multi-sensory experiences also enhances the experiences of sighted tourists.     

Light at the end of the tunnel: Visitors' virtual reality (versus in-person) attraction site tour-related behavioral intentions during and post-COVID-19

Consumer behavior is changing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, thus compelling attraction sites to find new ways of offering safe tours to visitors. Based on protection motivation theory, we develop and test a model that examines key drivers of visitors' COVID-19-induced social distancing behavior and its effect on their intent to use virtual reality-based (vs. in-person) attraction site tours during and post-COVID-19. Our analyses demonstrate that visitor-perceived threat severity, response efficacy, and self-efficacy raise social distancing behavior. In turn, social distancing increases (decreases) visitors' intent to use virtual reality (in-person) tours during the pandemic. We find social distancing to boost visitors' demand for advanced virtual tours and to raise their advocacy intentions. Our results also reveal that social distancing has no effect on potential visitors' intent to use virtual reality vs. in-person tours post-the pandemic. We conclude by discussing vital implications that stem from our analyses.     

Motivations for sharing tourism experiences through social media

Social media are increasingly relevant as part of tourism practices affecting destinations and businesses. Based on a destination-specific survey, this study charts and explores summer holidaymakers' motivations for social media contributions and their willingness to share content through various social media. The findings in relation to the much-visited destination of Mallorca offer an understanding of the adoption of tourist social media in technologically-advanced markets with high levels of ICT use. The results provide insights into such motivational factors as personal and community-related benefits as well as the social capital that influences a sharing of user-generated content. The study reveals a dominance of visual content, along with the relevance of altruistic and community-related motivations and motivational differences between types of content creators. Sharing practices through social media appear as valuable articulations of sociability and emotional support, while having lesser relevance as information sources for holiday decision-making. The paper additionally shows the extent to which old and new technologies overlap and complement each other.     

Outcome-focused national park experience management: transforming participants,promoting social well-being,and fostering place attachment

Understanding visitor experiences is essential if park managers are to facilitate beneficial outcomes for both individuals and society. We investigated visitor experiences in a special model of thematically connected guided walking, biking, and 4WD tours in Australian national parks. Outcomes attained by first-time and repeat participants were assessed by questionnaires with more detailed insights from semi-structured interviews with repeat participants. Participants developed strong social ties with community members and experienced significant improvements in health, well-being, and competence, gaining a sense of achievement from mastering a challenge with positive implications for their lives beyond the tours. The tour series performed well in achieving visitor satisfaction, repeat participation, and word-of-mouth recommendation. The experience increased participants’ attachment to national parks, reinforcing their sense of environmental stewardship. The findings are especially relevant to efforts in parks and elsewhere to better integrate senior citizens into the community and provide opportunities to increase their physical, mental, and social well-being. Such opportunities become limited, for example, when people retire from work or suffer health impairment. The tour series proved an effective tool for outcome-focused park management, providing significant personal benefits to participants with positive implications for larger societal benefits, plus political and financial advantages for park managements.     

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.     

Let's get this show on the road! Introducing the tourist celebrity gaze

The tourist celebrity gaze is identified and outlined in this article. A netnographic study of adventure backpackers' social media, documenting their taking part in the 2019 Mongol Rally, highlights a shift from touring places to being on tour. Hereby, the tourist may go travelling not only to observe, but to be observed by others. Symptomatic of this inverted gaze, distinctions from other travellers are drawn, making the tourist stand out, and attention is solicited and reported upon whilst on the road. The tourist enters an obverse panopticon where they can perform for an audience. Certain destinations and selective use of social media support this performance. Revealed therefore, is an extension of the traditional tourist gaze building on more recently described technologically mediated gazes.     

Mapping Cilento: Using geotagged social media data to characterize tourist flows in southern Italy

New sources of geotagged information derived from social media like Twitter show great promise for geographic research in tourism. This paper describes an approach to analyze geotagged social media data from Twitter to characterize spatial, temporal and demographic features of tourist flows in Cilento - a regional tourist attraction in southern Italy. It demonstrates how the analysis of geotagged social media data yields more detailed spatial, temporal and demographic information of tourist movements, in comparison to the current understanding of tourist flows in the region. The insights obtained from our case study illustrate the potential of the proposed methodology yet attention should be paid to biases in the data as well as methodological limitations when drawing conclusions from analytical results.     

强关系网络移动社交平台旅游分享行为研究——基于微信与QQ用户的资料分析

在移动社交媒体时代,旅游分享已成为当下旅游者的行为偏好,越来越多的旅游者选择微信、QQ这类强关系移动社交平台进行分享。国内学界对移动社交平台旅游分享行为的研究随之日增,但少有文章从理论上系统地揭示旅游分享行为的过程与动因。文章采用扎根理论研究方法,构建反映强关系网络移动社交平台的旅游分享动态过程理论模型。将旅游分享行为动态过程划分为分享前因、分享实现与分享结果3个阶段,总结每个阶段的行为特征、表现方式及阶段之间的演替规律,并探讨这类旅游分享行为的特点与动因。研究发现,在旅游分享动机上,强关系移动社交平台强调情感联结与互动,从而旅游者受到与个体相关动机的影响更为显著;分享内容上,平台的强关系特性与熟人社交促使旅游者尽量避免分享负面信息;分享结果上,强关系移动社交平台的旅游分享能调节旅游者行中、行后的体验水平,并形成兼具网络时空拓展性与熟人圈规模局限性的口碑传播。     

Selling Strategies and Shopping Behavior—An Example of Taiwanese Guided Package Tourists to Mainland China Destinations

China has become the most visited destination in the world for international tourists. The number of Taiwanese tourists going to China on guided tours has increased; “shopping” and “optional tours” are the two most controversial consumption experiences for them due to price competition. This study aims to investigate the Taiwanese guided package tourists’ shopping intentions and behavior when traveling in China and also to examine how their shopping behaviors are influenced by sales representatives, local tour guides, and other tour participants. This study found that benefits sought, perceived sympathy, and social acceptance are often used by service providers to persuade tour participants to buy. It is expected that the study can contribute to tourism industry theory, and help the travel industry to improve the quality of guided package tours to China.     

Tour guides and heritage interpretation: guides’ interpretation of the past at the archaeological site of Jarash,Jordan

Tour guides play a key role in the archaeological site visitor experience by providing interpretation and information. The archaeological site of Jarash, Jordan, is an important heritage destination for a diverse tourist market. It is located in a cultural landscape setting where many archaeological and historical monuments are well preserved. However, at present, this heritage rich seems far from being completely interpreted and valorized by not only local people but also by visitors. This paper reflects on the information and stories provided by tour guides about sites where heritage tourism experiences take place. Within this context, interpretation by tour guides is analyzed. A mixed-methods approach is used to accomplish this and includes qualitative data from semi-structured interviews, participant observations and desk research. The analysis is helpful in confirming that the way tour guides interpret a site influences site valorization and visitor experiences directly. From a practical perspective, the findings provide important insights for understanding how to develop an interpretative model that utilizes site values and the potential for providing better visitor experiences. The findings of this study provide a better understanding of guided package tours and provide suggestions for tour guides and heritage site managers in Jordan.     

Learning patterns of tourist movement and photography from geotagged photos at archaeological heritage sites in Cuzco,Peru

The popularity of media sharing platforms in recent decades has provided an abundance of open source data that remains underutilized by heritage scholars. By pairing geotagged internet photographs with machine learning and computer vision algorithms, we build upon the current theoretical discourse of anthropology associated with visuality and heritage tourism to identify travel patterns across a known archaeological heritage circuit, and quantify visual culture and experiences in Cuzco, Peru. Leveraging large-scale in-the-wild tourist photos, our goals are to (1) understand how the intensification of tourism intersects with heritage regulations and social media, aiding in the articulation of travel patterns across Cuzco's heritage landscape; and to (2) assess how aesthetic preferences and visuality become entangled with the rapidly evolving expectations of tourists, whose travel narratives are curated on social media and grounded in historic site representations.     

Error management at different organizational levels - Frontline, manager, and company

The influence of service recovery efforts in the form of apology (error management) at three organizational levels - frontline, manager, and company - on consumer satisfaction and behavioral intentions was examined with a 2 × 2 × 2 experimental study. Results support the main effects of all three apology levels on consumer satisfaction with the service exchange (recovery) process. The results also indicate that frontline apology has greater influence on consumers’ satisfaction when a manager's apology is also present. Moreover, the study identifies perceived control and fairness as mediators of the relationships between apology levels and consumer satisfaction indicating potential theoretical and managerial implications.     

Japanese Tourists' Experience of the Natural Environments in North QLD Region— Great Barrier Reef Experience

Summary

The North Queensland (QLD) region has been one of the fastest growing tourist destination for the international travel markets and has been recognized as a significant tourism icon in Australia. Surrounded by World Heritage areas such as the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) and Wet Tropical Rainforest, the North QLD region offers a range of unique and distinctive natural tourist attractions. Although the North QLD region is being recognized as one of the fast growing tourist destinations for Japanese tourists, few studies have been conducted in terms of understanding Japanese tourists' experiences towards the natural environment.

With a focus on the GBR trip in the North QLD region this study determined the importance of the GBR in Japanese holiday choice and elicited opinions on some reef-related issues. This study also attempted to compare Japanese visitor activities and behavior with a previous sample of English speaking respondents who took part in a similar survey during 1996.

The results indicated that not only do Japanese Tourists see Australia as a great opportunity to experience a unique and different culture, but they also regard Australia as a stimulating destination where they can get involved in some adventurous activities

Focussing on the GBR as a major drawcard for Japanese visitors, it was found that the ‘Experiencing Nature’ in a very natural, unstructured way, was the most important motivational factor for a GBR trip. There is potential to improve the enjoyment levels of Japanese visitors to the GBR by providing more information on day activities of the reef tours, by providing more education and through improvement of service and facilities on the boats.     

信息质量对旅游目的地形象的影响研究——基于不同关系强度的社交媒体平台

在互联网迅猛发展以及智能手机不断更新迭代的大环境下,社交媒体已成为人们生活中必不可少的一部分,随着网络技术的发展,流畅的网络系统不仅给人们带来了高质量的上网体验,也为人们的信息收集提供了便利。有出游意愿的游客往往事先通过社交媒体搜索、浏览、接收相关旅游目的地信息,进而感知旅游目的地形象。以往研究中较少关注人们与平台的关系强度或者只选取某一个特定的社交平台来探讨其对信息质量的影响。文章创新性地从不同关系强度视角出发,选取微博、微信两大代表性社交平台,探讨不同关系强度对信息质量的影响,以及信息质量对目的地形象的影响,并得出相关结论。通过研究结论,为目的地营销提供有针对性的建议。     

Designing tourist experiences amidst air pollution: A spatial analytical approach using social media

In this study, we propose a spatial analytical framework to better understand tourist experiences from geotagged social media data in Beijing in 2013. Based on text analytics, deep learning classifiers, and econometric analysis, we investigated the effects of air pollution on tourists' experiences in terms of their behavioral, emotional, and health outcomes. Results indicate that a higher PM2.5 concentration led to a broader travel scope within Beijing with activities closer to the city center. Tourists reported fewer positive sentiments and more health issues due to increasing air pollution. Further, a comparison of residents and tourists revealed differential pollution sensitivity and adaptation strategies. We also developed a Web-GIS–based platform integrating various models to enable tourism planners to design better tourism experiences.     

媒体数据在西方旅游学中的应用研究进展

随着Web2.0技术和社会化媒体的快速发展,媒体数据在旅游学术研究中得到了广泛应用。本文以Web of Science核心合集数据库中应用媒体数据开展旅游学术研究的外文文献为对象,评估媒体数据在西方旅游学研究中的应用情况。分析发现：媒体数据在旅游学研究中的应用经历了起始探索到快速发展两个阶段;媒体数据来源以网络社交媒体为主,以传统大众媒体为辅;媒体数据应用领域主要集中在旅游目的地形象与品牌特性、媒体在危机事件中扮演的角色、旅游行为足迹与旅游流、旅游需求/动机/偏好、游客体验与情绪分析等5个方面。已有研究在媒体数据应用上存在结论的普适性、媒体数据来源的代表性、媒体数据的真实有效性等局限,建议从旅游学相关数据库、旅游媒体大数据分析方法等方面不断建设与完善。