A Preliminary Investigation of NFL Games and Self-Drive Tourism

Abstract

This article addresses the thesis that the presence of an NFL team in a market area creates a unique self-drive (i.e., travel by car) tourism opportunity. Even though the impact of the presence of one or more professional sports teams in a community has been repeatedly studied, the research to date has not looked specifically at the impact on any one industry, or examined the extent to which the self-drive sports fan presents marketing opportunities for the host communities. The purpose of this study is to address these two gaps in the research by investigating the impact of an NFL team's play dates on lodging industry revenue (i.e., occupancy percentage, average daily rate, revenue per available room and total dollar impact) in the market area and to discuss destination marketing strategies to increase lodging revenues by targeting the self-drive NFL fan.     

信息传播:旅游目的地营销与服务的关键环节

文章讨论了旅游业作为信息密集型和信息依托型产业的特征,并指出,旅游目的地信息传播既是一种社会现象,也是目的地营销的基本内容,同时,传递信息也是为旅游者提供旅游服务的一种重要形式.     

Hotel Marketing Managers' Responses to Ethical Dilemmas

ABSTRACT

This research concerns the perceptions and decisions of lodging sales and marketing executives in dealing with ethical marketing issues. Respondents were given ten vignettes, representing ethical dilemmas in the five categories of ethical behavior (coercion and control, personal integrity, physical environment, paternalism, and conflict of interest) identified by previous researchers. They were first asked to determine whether each issue was a question of ethics or not. Next, the respondents were asked what action they would take given the dilemma. The findings did not reveal any consistent pattern of respondent perceptions or actions. All of the vignettes embodied ethical choices. Results indicate a need for lodging sales and marketing executives to develop and adhere to ethical guidelines for the unique situations they face.     

论旅游目的地联合营销的理论基础及其对中国的启示

时于以旅游经济为支柱的地区来说,目的地营销一直是一项极具挑战性的任务.联合营销可能为目的地旅游组织解决这一挑战提供有效的路径.本文以组织关系理论为基础,探讨和阐述旅游目的地联合营销的先决条件、动机成因、合作过程和预期成果,并对其理论和实战两个层面的影响进行阐述.     

Weekly occupancy fluctuations in Yorkshire and Humberside hotels 1982–1984: patterns and prescriptions

In this article it is argued that the formulation of planning policy for tourism in general, and the hotel industry in particular, requires detailed information on the temporal characteristics of visitor flows in relation to the capacity of the industry to accommodate them. In this light, a detailed analysis is performed on weekly fluctuations in visitor flows to hotels in Yorkshire and Humberside, as revealed by daily occupancy returns in 99 hotels over the study period.Clear temporal and spatial patterns are identified and linked with differences in market orientation, between areas, between hotels and between different seasons.Stepwise regression analyses relating occupancy performance to a range of hotel characteristics confirms the importance of market orientation and identifies other correlates of weekly occupancy pattern.Finally, the marketing and planning implications of the results are discussed, and different marketing options for improved occupancy performance are outlined.     

Marketing Ecotourism Through the Internet: A Case of Ecotourism Business in Thailand

The advance of Internet technology is having a profound impact on the traditional modes of selling tourism products and contributing to the growing importance of online marketing of the travel and tourism industry. In the case of ecotourism, studies examining Internet-based ecotourism marketing are still limited. This study aims to examine how ecotourism business is marketed through the Internet by focusing on Thai ecotourism business. Subjects investigated are travel business members listed on the website of the Thai Ecotourism and Adventure Travel Association (TEATA). Data are qualitatively analyzed using content analysis to examine marketing and ecotourism web-based context promoted through the Internet. The results indicate that the travel companies examined in this study provide a variety of products and services to meet the diverse travel needs and preferences of tourists. When examining the web-based ecotourism marketing, most businesses provide insufficient marketing and ecotourism information to promote ecotourism experience. In particular, ecotourism messages they provide are only partially aligned with ecotourism principles. Recommendations are given for improving online ecotourism marketing to better satisfy tourists' needs and expectations.     

An Examination of Social Media Marketing in China: How do the Top 133 Hotel Brands Perform on the Top Four Chinese Social Media Sites?

The purpose of this study is to evaluate hotel companies’ social media marketing efforts using the “6Is” social media monitoring framework. More specifically, in this study we set out to understand how hotels disseminate information, engage with consumers, and distribute products through social media. We investigate the presence of the top 133 hotel brands in China on the top domestic Chinese social media sites in order to identify to what extent the hotel industry in China recognizes the potential of this marketing tool. The findings indicate that the majority of the hotels actively and consistently use the Sina Weibo and Wechat platforms for their social media marketing.     

国外旅游目的地营销研究综述

本文对国外旅游目的地营销研究进行综述.近10年来国外研究主要涉及旅游目的地形象、旅游目的地营销组织、旅游目的地促销、信息技术与目的地营销4大方面.文章在简要评述我国旅游目的地营销研究现状的基础上,结合国外研究情况,认为强化实证研究及定量分析、旅游目的地品牌及定位研究、旅游目的地营销组织、信息技术的促进作用和旅游目的地营销绩效评价应是我国近期旅游目的地营销研究的主要方向.     

Interview with Nancy Duricic,Senior Vice President of Human Resources,Dave & Buster's,Inc.

Abstract

This research concerns the satisfaction of lodging sales and marketing executives on different job attributes. Respondents were asked about their satisfaction with pay, current position, and their profession. Significant differences were found based on the size of hotel, marital status, personal income, and gender. A comparison of the respondents of this study to financial and technology professionals conducted by DeFranco and Schmidgall (2001) suggests that Sales and Marketing executives are somewhat more satisfied than their counterparts in Accounting/Technology.     

论旅游目的地营销误区与新策略

旅游目的地之间竞争的日益加剧,使营销成为目的地在竞争中胜出的有力武器,旅游市场营销也随之从以企业为主体的营销模式转变到以目的地营销为主体的时代.本文在考察国内外旅游目的地营销研究和实践的基础上,结合国内旅游目的地实际,分析我国目的地营销中存在的几大误区,并讨论了旅游目的地营销的新策略.     

Household Expenditure Patterns for Tourism Products and Services

The growing importance of the tourism industry, coupled with demographic, social and economic changes, highlights the need to study consumersÆ expenditure patterns for tourism products. Using 1990 Consumer Expenditure Survey data, this study examined leisure travel expenditure patterns of households, especially food, lodging, transportation, and sightseeing/entertainment expenditures. The results show that demographic and socioeconomic and cultural factors have a varying effect on each of the four expenditure categories. The research findings bear implications for marketing segmentation in various components of tourism industry, and suggest an effective research approach to develop pragmatic segmentation strategies.     

Best Practice Marketing for Regional Tourism Destinations

This article reports on destination marketing best practices from 21 regional destinations around Australia. The results advocate an integrative approach to destination marketing that aligns with destination management and development objectives. From this, a framework is developed, within which nine best practice principles are identified as essential to successful and sustainable marketing of regional destinations. The key initiatives used to achieve success are discussed in detail, highlighting the need for destination stakeholders to foster a cooperative and strategic approach and ensure consistent design and delivery of a destination brand and image which is supported by tactical advertising and promotional strategies, effective visitor information services, and events to support the destination brand and image to target appropriate visitor markets.     

The use of lodging ratios in tourism

This paper presents an analysis of the lodging industry in Victoria, Canada, using standard accounting procedures. It provides detailed information on the supply side of the tourist industry. Meaningful categories were derived by categorizing the sample of hotels and motels into four groups according to their ratios of food and beverage sales to room sales rather the conventional aggregations used by the lodging industry. Cost-volume-profit (C-V-P) analysis was used to compare the break-even charts of the four groups. Information on risk was also obtained by an extension of the analysis using probabilistic C-V-P measures. It is concluded that information at this level of aggregation is important to decision-makers involved in overall tourism planning as well as to management of individual facilities.     

中国酒店业能源消耗水平与低碳化经营路径分析

低碳旅游是在低碳经济背景下旅游管理研究的热点问题。旅游业虽然被认为是低碳经济的一个重要组成部分,但关于旅游业的能源消耗水平研究一直缺乏定量研究成果。文章以中国酒店业为例,采用投入产出分析方法,对中国酒店业的能源消耗水平进行了定量分析。研究表明,中国酒店业每万元的总产出需要消耗330.99千克标准煤。通过产业部门间的比较研究,发现中国酒店业整体仍然处于高耗能阶段,酒店业在节能减排以及发展低碳经济方面还不具有比较优势;通过比较研究,发现中国酒店业能源消耗水平与部分发达国家相比,还存在很大差距;通过与本地居民能源消耗水平的比较,发现酒店住客的日常能源消耗量远远高于城市居民日常生活的能源消耗量。最后,针对中国酒店业在能源消耗方面存在的问题,提出了中国酒店业低碳化经营的发展路径。     

Segmenting the College Educated Generation Y Health and Wellness Traveler

Generation Y is considered to be the next largest cohort group to significantly impact the health and wellness travel industry. This study sought to create a profile of the Gen Y health and wellness traveler using push and pull motivations and perceived wellness. K-means clustering revealed five distinct traveler segments. Wellness was found to be a motivating factor as well as the other internal and external motivators used in this study. Men were found to travel more for escape and women for the nightlife. Opportunities to both seek and avoid contact with others were revealed. Suggestions for future marketing messages for the Gen Y wellness traveler are offered.     

Investigation of Social Media Marketing: How Does the Hotel Industry in Hong Kong Perform in Marketing on Social Media Websites?

The purpose of this study is to investigate the extent to which social media marketing is being utilized in the Hong Kong hotel industry. Marketing performance of 67 hotels in Hong Kong on 23 social media sites was evaluated according to 18 criteria adapted from past studies. The results indicate that hotels generally have a poor performance in using social media to learn about customers. Major problems regarding the hotels' social media marketing efforts are identified. Implications behind these problems and recommendations for improvement are made accordingly.     

Re-examining the overcapacity of the US lodging industry

Although the deteriorating profitability of the US lodging industry has been repeatedly attributed to overcapacity, there has been little research on the causes of overcapacity. The authors suspect that this issue stems from the lack of a working definition of optimal capacity level. This study evaluates the optimum capacity of the US lodging industry based on the fundamental price theory, which posits that prices are determined through equilibrium. Results of the simultaneous equations model show that the industry has an incentive to maintain overcapacity because the outcomes of under-capacity are even less desirable. The uncertainty of demand further encourages overcapacity to some extent. Historical overcapacity cycles in the US lodging industry suggest that overcapacity seems to be an outcome of unexpected demand shocks, rather than the consequence of irrational overbuilding. Implications for the industry and suggestions for future research are presented along with the study findings.     

Modelling E-Marketing Strategies: Internet Presence and Exploitation of Greek Hotels

Abstract

Despite the wide use of the Internet in the tourism industry and the exponential growth of e-commerce, little is still known on how the new medium is transforming marketing practices and concepts. The purpose of this empirical study is to fill in this gap. Specifically, the study first analyses Internet's capabilities as well as the Virtual Marketspace and the marketing transformations that the Internet is creating. After reviewing models and strategies for Internet marketing, an e-marketing mix is proposed that exploits Internet capabilities. The latter is used in order to investigate and provide suggestions on the development of Internet strategies of hotels in Greece.     

Assessing the Visibility of Destination Marketing Organizations in Google: A Case Study of Convention and Visitor Bureau Websites in the United States

Search engines are playing an increasingly dominant role in providing access to tourism information on the Internet. As such, it is argued that destination marketing organizations (DMOs) must have a substantial understanding of the visibility in search engines in order to create competitive positions within this important marketplace. The goal of this study was to develop a process to assess the visibility of DMO websites in one of the major search engines (i.e., Google). A set of 18 cities in the United States were selected to be used as case studies of the visibility of their convention and visitor bureau (CVB) websites in relation to travel queries identified using Google Adwords Keyword Tool. The results indicate that there are substantial differences in the relative positions of CVB websites on Google. In particular, there seems to be huge gaps among the search domains within CVB websites in terms of their visibility to online travelers and volume of search within those domains. This study offers a number of implications for research and practice of search engine marketing for tourism destinations.     

Marketing decisions,customer reviews,and business performance: The use of the Toprural website by Spanish rural lodging establishments

Modern travelers often rely on reviews provided by other consumers online, or electronic word of mouth (eWOM), to choose their accommodations. This study considers the effects of marketing decisions by rural lodging establishment owners (i.e., price and advertising expenditures) on eWOM (i.e., ratings and number of reviews), as well as the effects of eWOM on business performance. The results rely on marketing data and customer reviews obtained from a leading rural tourism infomediary website, related to 202 Spanish rural lodging establishments. A complementary survey also provided information about the lodging establishments' performance. The study thus reveals that price and advertising expenditures affect eWOM; in turn, eWOM affects business performance. Moreover, owners' experience with the infomediary slightly moderates the link between eWOM and performance.