Mixed Serious Leisure and Grassroots Organizational Capacity: A Study of Amateur Artist Groups in a Regional Australian City

This research note compares the commonly used scale of “very unacceptable” to “very acceptable” with an alternative scale of “should definitely not allow” to “should definitely allow” for measuring normative evaluations. Data were obtained from 1,422 users at six sites in Hawaii, and norms were measured in questionnaires with photographs depicting increasing use densities. Responses differed statistically between scales with users feeling that there should be more people allowed than they thought were acceptable at each site. The “acceptance” scale also generated more crystallization or agreement, but lower intensity or importance of use levels than the scale based on “should.” Effect sizes, however, showed that the magnitude of these differences was small or minimal, suggesting that the “acceptance” scale may be appropriate.     

Sustainability performance assessment focusing on coral reef protection by the tourism industry in the Coral Triangle region

Coral reef based tourism in the Coral Triangle region is responsible for economic benefits but also for negative social and environmental impacts, thus an approach to evaluate this industry's sustainability performance would be valuable. We selected 10 key indicators, out of 681, that were directly relevant to the impacts of tourist activities on coral reefs in economic, social, environmental, and wildlife aspects of sustainability. Efficiency, inefficiency and overall models were developed to measure relative sustainability performance focusing on coral reef protection by the tourism industry for all six countries in the Coral Triangle, from 2008 to 2012. Our results showed that Indonesia had the best relative performance among countries in the region, followed in descending order by; Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, Philippines, Timor-Leste, and Solomon Islands. Future plans to achieve higher performance by the tourism industry in each country can be made if a comprehensive sensitivity analysis is carried out.     

The role of frequency of patronage and service quality of all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant: A perspective of socio-economic and demographic characteristics of African American consumers

While the sub-cultural group of African American consumers form a large and growing market segment, relatively little study has been done on their attitude and consumption behavior toward the ever popular all-you-can-eat Buffet restaurants. Paper examines the frequency of patronizing all-you-can-eat Buffet restaurants by the African Americans, the criteria that they use to evaluate service quality in those restaurants, as well as, socio-economic and demographic factors that determine their frequency of patronage and service quality evaluation. Results show that “freshness,” “hygiene,” “variety and reliability,” and “value,” are the top four dimensions of service quality most important to this group of consumers. Gender, age, income, and marital status were found to influence their patronage frequency, as well as their service quality evaluation. Managerial implications of findings for targeting and promotional strategies are discussed.     

Authenticity orientation as an attitude: Scale construction and validation

This study developed an authenticity orientation scale to measure the attitudes of tourists toward object-based authenticity of cultural and historic artifacts, attractions, and tourist sites. The attitudes underlying the scale have been described in authenticity literature as a continuum of attitude orientations ranging from predominantly realist to constructivist to postmodernist. To numerically distinguish tourists with respect to their attitudes, the researchers employ Thurstone's method of equally appearing intervals (Thurstone, L.L. 1928. Attitudes can be measured. The American Journal of Sociology, 26, 249–269) with subsequent validation. The newly developed scale has undergone rigorous construction and testing procedure. Its predictive validity was ensured through hypothesis testing using an online survey with a panel of 514 American tourists. The theoretical significance of the study lies in understanding the mechanism of “authentication” of various artifacts, attractions, and tourist sites by visitors. Implications for tourism management and directions for further research are discussed.     

Facebook Pages Content,Does it Really Matter? Consumers’ Responses to Luxury Hotel Posts with Emotional and Informational Content

This paper examines clients’ responses to luxury hotel posts with either an informational or an emotional appeal. The luxury hotel industry is selected for its hedonic characteristics and its use of Facebook as a branding tool. An experiment with repeated measurement was conducted involving 45 young adults, clients of luxury hotels, and users of Facebook. An informational appeal is more effective in improving the attitude toward the hotel signature (“Sheraton”, in the context of this study) and in improving the perception of quality than an emotional appeal. Yet, the content of the posts has no influence on the intention to stay at the hotel and the intention to follow the hotel on Facebook. Managerial implications are drawn on the choice of content of Facebook pages.     

Non-Asian Tourists' preferred attributes: a choice experiment

This study aims to identify non-Asian tourists' preferred attributes for a one-day Seoul tour package by examining theoretical frameworks of values related to tourists' heterogeneity of choice behaviors. The study applies a choice experiment (CE) to capture the systematic heterogeneity of preferences in a non-Asian tourist group and examines whether different individuals' value orientations relate to heterogeneous preferences regarding the tour packages. The CE derives the preferences as a form of marginal willingness to pay (MWTP), a pecuniary value for additional units of the attributes. Historical/cultural destinations displayed the highest MWTP value of all tour sites in Seoul, which was estimated to be $74.32. The results also show that a respondent who emphasizes “money and enjoyment” and “authenticity” values is more likely to choose a tour package that includes more opportunities to visit shopping and historical/cultural sites, respectively.     

Reconnoitering relationships among value,trust, affect,and loyalty at association events

Meetings and conventions organized by associations are considered the most competitive industry segment due to the number of associations and their frequency of regular meetings and events. The success of association events may result from greater attendees' loyalty. This loyalty, in turn, may be determined by association event value they received from the event, trust in the association, and by feelings or affect elicited by the association. However, little research has been done on the value of attending an association event in relation to association trust and affect, leading to loyalty toward an association and association event. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship among “association event value,” “association trust,” “association affect,” and loyalty in the context of association events. The survey has been disseminated to those who had attended an association event no more than 1 year prior to taking the survey. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used to test the hypotheses. The findings suggest that attendees' perceived value at an association event builds loyalty toward the association. In addition, association trust and affect mediate the relationship between value and loyalty toward the association.     

Effects of User and Trip Characteristics on Responses to Communication Messages

This study examines the effectiveness of environmental messages in relations to demographic, trip characteristics and possible management actions. Three environmental messages were designed to encourage positive behavior and reduce environmentally destructive behavior in a natural recreation area. The study included a survey of actual resource users to determine which symbols in the presentations of the content of the message would evoke a positive response. Research revealed that communication effectiveness can be enhanced by manipulated various symbols in messages and depends upon demographic and trip characteristics as well as environmental orientations of users.     

Development and validation of a destination personality scale for mainland Chinese travelers

This study aims to develop a destination personality scale utilizing a sample of mainland Chinese travelers and examine the impact of this new scale on tourists' travel attitudes and behaviors using a two-step mixed method approach. Results yield an 18-item five-dimensional destination personality scale (competence, sacredness, vibrancy, femininity, and excitement) with desirable reliability, construct validity, and predictive validity. Except for “vibrancy”, the other four dimensions are found to be significant determinants of travelers’ actual self-congruity, ideal self-congruity, and destination loyalty. Results suggest that “competence” and “femininity” are the primary determinants of three criterion variables when all other dimensions are controlled for. This study provides empirical evidence for the necessity of developing a culture-specific destination personality scale under the Chinese cultural context. Destination managers could use this scale to evaluate and identify their primary destination personality characteristics, and adjust their current promotion strategies to target travelers from mainland China more effectively.     

Changes in tourist personal values: impact of experiencing tourism products and services

This study examines how tourist personal value networks are constructed, and examines whether the structure of such networks differs if experience or consumption of tourism products or services influences the importance of these personal values. Through laddering and implication matrix, the abstraction score of each value can be computed and its position within the value structure identified for constructing a personal values network. By comparing the structure of the personal values network before and after traveling experience, the researchers found that tourists may hold identical values but assign them different degrees of importance, changing the value network structure. Thus, marketers targeting before-the-trip tourists should emphasize that their products or services meet tourist desires for “imaginative” and “an exciting life” and can help tourists achieve a feeling of “freedom.” If marketers targeting tourists who have just come back from a trip, they should emphasize the “cheerful” feelings of the trip and project an image of “happiness” and “freedom” to attract tourists and satisfy their desire for “inner harmony.” This finding not only provides marketers with information regarding tourist cognitions, but also helps marketers to effectively formulate marketing strategies.     

Tourist decisions in renting various personal travel modes: A case study in Kitakyushu City,Japan

Recently, personal transportation modes have diversified remarkably, and rental use in a tourism area can be one of the strategies to popularize them. This study focused on Kitakyushu City, Japan, and analyzed users' decision-making processes to choose among four modes (ultra-lightweight vehicles [ULVs], electric-assisted bicycles, electric scooters, and electric four-wheel carts) by four evaluation standards: “safety,” “convenience,” “mobility,” and “joy.” The results found that, regarding overall satisfaction of the rental service, most users were satisfied and want to use it in a tourism area as an alternative to, primarily, private cars, even if the service will be provided under a continuous-charging model. In addition, a detailed analysis of the decision-making process of rental use showed that users ranked the criteria in descending order of importance as “safety,” “convenience,” “joy,” and “mobility,” and regarded ULVs as the most preferable transportation mode.     

Testing the proposed “GuidePerf” scale for tourism: performances of tour guides in relation to various tour guiding diplomas

The satisfaction perceived from the performance of tour guides (TGs) affects tour operators and other services in the tourism industry. As the tour guiding performance becomes more crucial in service quality and tourist satisfaction, education also becomes a critical tool to enhance the tour guiding performance. Using semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with seven TGs in Cappadocia/Turkey and employing content analysis of the data, the Tour Guide Performance Scale (GuidePerf) was developed in this particular study. Reliability and validity of GuidePerf were supported by exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. The scale was composed of 18 items and three dimensions, namely: “personality and efficiency,” “presentableness,” and “proficiency.” Proceeding to the next step with the approval, the GuidePerf was conducted on the tour participants (TPs) who were guided by three different TG types in terms of the education they had received. The results revealed that there is significance when “presentableness,” and “proficiency” dimensions are considered.     

Interrelationships between tourist involvement,tourist experience,and environmentally responsible behavior: a case study of Nansha Wetland Park,China

ABSTRACT

This study examines a model linking three facets of tourist involvement (“importance & pleasure,” “sign value,” and “risk probability & consequence”) with tourist experience (TE) and environmentally responsible behavior (ERB). Data were collected with a self-administered questionnaire in a convenient sampling approach from tourists visiting Nansha Wetland Park, China. In total, 308 valid questionnaires were obtained. The structural equation modeling technique was applied to data analyses. Of three tourist involvement (TI) facets, “importance & pleasure” was found to be the most salient predictor of TE, which in turn led to ERB. “Risk probability & consequence” was shown as a potent predictor of both TE and ERB. “Sign value” did not have any effect on either TE or ERB. Basically, TE served as a full mediator between “importance & pleasure” and ERB, and a partial mediator between “risk probability & consequence” and ERB. Contributions, managerial implications, and future research directions are discussed.     

Contesting authentic practice and ethical authority in adventure tourism

This paper examines the discourses of authenticity and ethics employed by adventure tourists regarding the use of the natural environment. In one case, full-time traveling rock climbers use their dedication to the sport and annual visits to the Red River Gorge as evidence for their authoritative voice on ethical climbing practice. While they identify the growing numbers of leisure climbers as a problem for sustainability, many also take up temporary employment as guides and are directly involved in the introduction of new climbers to the area. In another case, two groups of wilderness enthusiasts – “ADK 46ers” and “Summit Stewards” – lament the environmental and social impacts of other recreational users in the Adirondack Park. Despite being visitors themselves, Summit Stewards and 46ers use their sense of place and knowledge of Adirondack history and ecology to substantiate their authority as purveyors of ethical practice. In both cases, senses of responsibility are inspired by senses of place, but are articulated through notions of authenticity and used as justification for ethical authority. While validating their presence in these outdoor spaces, the use of such rhetoric also minimizes their own impacts yielding further tensions among user groups.     

Segmenting residents based on emotional reactions to tourism performing arts development

To identify residents’ heterogeneity beyond a perception lens, this research seeks to cluster urban and rural residents based on their emotions, commitment and behavioral intentions toward tourism performing arts (TPA) development. A survey comprising 438 urban and 435 rural respondents was collected in Hangzhou and Yangshuo, China. A two-step cluster analysis revealed that residents’ length of residence and birthplace were the most significant model predicators. Different cluster profiles labeled as “enthusiasts”, “committed supporters”, “appraisers” and “critics” were identified. Findings provide targeted strategies to cultivate resident commitment and reduce hostility toward TPA development in different types of communities.     

Factors Affecting the Adoption of E-commerce for the Tourism Industry in Taiwan

The tourism industry has successfully pioneered the adoption of e-commerce with respect to its online trading systems. Given the potential for the tourism industry to impart knowledge to other industries, this study examines the acceptance of online trading systems for travel agencies in Taiwan. According to the results of a literature review, this study uses six critical factors that were identified in the literature review as formative influences on the adoption of e-commerce. These factors are then incorporated into a questionnaire designed to verify empirically the extent of their ability to be generalized. This survey reveals that 80% of the travel agencies in the sample have adopted online trading systems. Particularly noteworthy is how the adopters and non-adopters hold different viewpoints on the following factors; “compatibility of adopting innovative technology”, “centralization of organization”, “organizational scale” and “correctness of website transmission”.     

Response Format Effects in Encounter Norm Questions

Survey response format has been shown to influence norm prevalence (percentage reporting a norm) and the numerical value of the reported norm. This article summarizes an experiment where respondents were randomly assigned to one of two conditions. In the semi-open response format treatment, respondents (n = 817) “wrote in a number” for an acceptable number of visitor encounters. In the closed format treatment, individuals (n = 826) “circled a number” of acceptable encounters along a range of possible responses. Hypothesis 1 predicted that norm prevalence would be higher for the closed format than the semi-open. Hypothesis 2 predicted that the mean tolerance level would differ in the two treatments. Results supported hypothesis 1. The percent reporting a norm was statistically higher in the closed versus the semi-open treatment. Results failed to support hypothesis 2. The average tolerance levels for the closed and semi-open formats were statistically equivalent.     

Conflict and agreement in stakeholder attitudes: residents’ and hotel managers’ views of tourism impacts and forest-related tourism development

This paper probes differences in attitudes toward tourism impacts between two leading stakeholder groups in tourism, local residents and the managers of tourism facilities. It uses case study surveys of residents and managers in Belek, Antalya, Turkey. Differences in attitudes across seven main areas are investigated, including the positive and negative economic outcomes of tourism; positive and negative sociocultural impacts; negative environmental impacts; views on further tourism development, and benefits and problems related to forested land close to destinations. The results reveal that some attitudes are held in common – especially positive attitudes including tourism's benefits in creating jobs and income. Differences were mostly observed not in the direction but in the strength of opinion. The most significant differences were found in managers' beliefs that tourism's environmental and social impacts were few, while residents were extremely negative about those impacts. Differences of attitudes on the future use of forestland headed the list of all differences between managers and residents. Divergent loyalties were revealed. Managers supported their business and employers; local people supported their local area. The need for further research, including the role of perhaps distant “moral stakeholders”, and for more comprehensive understanding, and more sustainable outcomes, are highlighted.     

Exploring Tourist Perceived Value: An Investigation of Asian Cruise Tourists' Travel Experience

The present study explores Asian cruise travelers' perceived value of the travel experience and the effect of perceived value on satisfaction and behavioral intention. To measure Asian travelers' multi-dimensional perceived value, a cognitive-affective perceived value model was utilized. Survey items were adapted from cruise travel attribute items and SERV-PERVAL scales. Exploratory factor analysis was performed to identify travelers' cognitive and affective perceived value. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was conducted in order for researchers to examine how tourists' multi-dimensional perceived value construct affected travelers' satisfaction and behavioral intentions. Statistical results showed that Asian cruise travelers have four sub-dimensions of cognitive perceived value: “facility,” “food & beverage (F&B),” “entertainment,” and “staff.” Affective perceived value was measured by emotional response measurement items. The current study indicated travelers' perceived value of the cruise experience affects travel satisfaction and travelers' behavioral intention.