Dimensions and Effects of Consumers' Travel–Transportation Involvement: The Case of the Mini Three Links

Since its implementation in 2001, the Mini Three Links (MTL) has become the most important transportation means for Taiwanese travelling to China. The MTL is connected to recreation/travel in Kinmen: service providers often include short local trips as part of the transit process. This study focuses on the concept of travel–transportation involvement in the MTL, exploring its effects on consumers’ travel–transportation dependence, identity, loyalty, price sensitivity, and product purchase intention. Travel–transportation involvement is divided into behavioural involvement and social–psychological involvement, which in turn considers attraction, self-expression, and centrality to lifestyle. Survey respondents are passengers using the MTL service at Kinmen Shangyi Airport and Shuitou Port. Structural equation modelling is used to analyse the 380 valid questionnaires; results show that different involvement dimensions have unique effects. Behavioural involvement positively affects price sensitivity. Attraction positively affects travel–transportation dependence, which further improves travel–transportation identity. Attraction also has indirect negative effects on loyalty and price sensitivity, which are mediated by its impact on travel–transportation dependence and identity. Further, centrality to lifestyle negatively affects product purchase intention during the travel process. Self-expression has a direct positive effect on travel–transportation dependence and loyalty, but a direct negative effect on price sensitivity. Finally, self-expression has indirect negative effects on loyalty and price sensitivity; the mediation process is identical to that for attraction. This study is valuable in terms of distinguishing between various effects among previously overlooked dimensions of travel–transportation involvement; it also provides practical implications for related travel–transportation-service practitioners and tourism development within Kinmen.     

Chinese rural tourism development: Transition in the case of Qiyunshan,Anhui. – 2008–2015

The paper examines the political and social realities of China pertaining to its pro-poor rural tourism policies. It provides a discussion of those policies by drawing on an analysis of changes in the village of Qiyunshan, which is being developed as a tourist destination by the Huangshan authorities. It contextualises the wider policies of current rural reforms under the Xi and Li regime within the specificities of the experiences of this village based upon two sets of observations, (a) one based on several visits over a period of years and (b) a more structured period of participant observations by the first author since 2011. It points to the increased role of state owned enterprises under the Xi regime while highlighting specific differences between different actors in the process of transition toward becoming a major tourist destination.     

Resident perceptions of social–ecological resilience and the sustainability of community-based tourism development in the Commonwealth of Dominica

Despite major investments in community-based tourism to diversify economies, reduce poverty and improve life quality in the Caribbean, little is known about what conditions lead to resilience and sustainability. Sustainability from a resilience theory perspective is the likelihood an existing system of resource use will persist indefinitely without a decline in social and natural resource bases. Undertaking activities to enhance resilience and sustainability improves a system's ability to persevere, adapt and learn to meet challenges from unanticipated economic, political or natural events. This study investigated six communities in the Commonwealth of Dominica, all part of a seven-year community tourism program, and examined residents' perceptions of the social, institutional, economic and ecological resilience of their community, and therefore the resilience and sustainability of community tourism development. It used a new scale using eight steps suggested by Devellis' scale development methodology. Data indicated moderate to low resilience in all four domains across the communities. This suggests that communities should invest in strengthening social bonds, developing capacity in local institutions, in diversifying the tourism product and controlling infrastructure development. Indicators measuring trust, networks, local control, flexible governance, leakage prevention and controlled infrastructure development emerged as important in assessing social–ecological resilience and sustainability.     

Responses to COVID-19: The role of performance in the relationship between small hospitality enterprises’ resilience and sustainable tourism development

Tourism is one of the hardest-hit industries by the global pandemic of Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). Small tourism enterprises have been heavily affected and have had difficulty in business recovery. This research is an early attempt to explore the direct impact of small hospitality enterprises’ resilience on sustainable tourism development as well as indirect impact through performance. A pre-tested questionnaire survey was self-administered to owner-managers of small hospitality enterprises in Greater Cairo, Egypt. The results of structural equation modeling (SEM) using AMOS showed a positive, direct, and significant impact of resilience (planned and adaptive) on sustainable tourism development and indirect influence through performance. The results of the multi-group analysis showed that enterprise type has a significant effect on the results, where restaurant owner-managers expressed more resilience than their hotel counterparts. Several theoretical (for scholars) and practical implications for tourism policy-makers and owner-managers have been discussed and elaborated.     

Place attachment,host–tourist interactions,and residents’ attitudes towards tourism development: the case of Boa Vista Island in Cape Verde

A clear understanding of residents’ attitudes towards tourism development and its determinants is a crucial pillar for designing tourism development strategies to promote sustainable development. The literature on the influence of host–tourist interactions and place attachment on residents’ attitudes towards tourism development in developing countries is still scarce. To extend knowledge in this field, this study aims at developing and testing a structural model to examine direct and indirect causal effects of place attachment, host–tourist interaction, and perceived positive and negative tourism impacts on the residents’ attitudes towards tourism development in an island tourism destination – Boa Vista Island in Cape Verde. Results suggest that the residents’ attitudes are positively affected by place attachment, host–tourist interaction, and perceived positive impacts; and negatively affected by perceived negative impacts. Host–tourist interaction emerges as the strongest (direct and indirect) determinant of the residents’ attitudes towards tourism development. Moreover, although both positive and negative perceptions of tourism impacts have significant impacts on the residents’ attitudes, the influence of the former is stronger than that of the latter. The paper ends with relevant theoretical and practical implications to promote positive residents’ attitudes towards tourism development in Boa Vista.     

On the need to re‐conceptualise sustainable tourism development

Recent years have witnessed the emergence of a dominant paradigm of sustainable tourism development, one which appears to chart a responsible course, balancing the requirements of tourism development with the protection of the environment. However, this paper argues that the predominant paradigm is too tourism‐centric, parochial and, therefore, inherently flawed, and that it effectively condones planning, management and policy approaches which fail to operationalise sustainable tourism in a manner consistent with the general aims and requirements of sustainable development. In particular, it is suggested that the tourism‐centric paradigm encourages inappropriate and inconsistent consideration of the scope and geographical scale of tourism's resource base, whilst also failing to adequately account for the intersectoral context of tourism development In order to re‐engage sustainable tourism development with its parental concerns (those of sustainable development generally), an alternative, extra‐parochial paradigm is proposed, whereby the remit of sustainable tourism development is re‐conceptualised primarily in terms of tourism's contribution to sustainable development.     

Mountain bike tourism in Austria and the Alpine region – towards a sustainable model for multi-stakeholder product development

This paper interrogates the polarized and heated discussions about mountain bike tourism in Austrian forests, with several organizations favoring permitting biking on all forest roads, using claimed tourism development opportunities, while other stakeholders including hikers, hunters and landowners wish to restrict development. An international literature review on the value and impacts of mountain biking shows that both sides have oversimplified complex cases. The paper draws on 12 in-depth interviews with Austrian tourism destination and mountain bike experts to find ways forward. Results suggest that in Austria, bike tourism will increase in the future, supported by new bike technology, including electric bikes and new hand-held route information technology. It notes the complexity of the market for mountain and other forms of cycle tourism, and the pressing need to create not more trails but more sophisticated tourism products, including appealing and well-maintained trails plus attractive leisure infrastructure (bike rental, service and repair facilities, attractive localities, accommodation suited to the mountain bikers’ needs, etc.). Collaborative planning with all stakeholders, better trail construction standards adapted to differing preferences, needs and environmental conditions as well as clear standards for monitoring are prerequisites of an Austrian strategy for sustainable cycle tourism development and management, which can be replicated elsewhere.     

Carrying capacity analysis and destination development: a case study of Gangotri tourists/pilgrims’ circuit in the Himalaya

The Himalaya has numerous natural, cultural, aesthetic, and adventurer tourists/pilgrims’ destinations, which are the major source of income and employment to the local people and revenue generation to the government. Meanwhile, tourism carrying capacity of these destinations is poor and thus tourism development could not take shape. This article examines carrying capacity and destination development of the Gangotri tourists/pilgrims’ circuit, which is also known as Gangotri eco-sensitive zone. We conducted this study using both qualitative and quantitative approaches, in which we collected data on tourists/pilgrims flow, accommodation, transportation, and infrastructural facilities. Primary data were collected through interview of 160 persons of 8 tourists/pilgrims centres who are involved in tourism activities. Further, we employed a participatory observation method after an extensive visit of Gangotri tourisms/pilgrims circuit in January 2017. Secondary data were collected from the Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board, Dehradun. We used correlation and rank method and analysed infrastructural facilities, carrying capacity dimensions, proposed destination development model for the circuit, and observed that a sustainable tourism development may enhance economic activities such as income generation and employment augmentation as the whole circuit obtains natural, cultural, and aesthetic importance.     

Women's leisure: divergence,reconceptualization and change — the case of the Netherlands

This paper consists of two sections. In the first, theoretical, section I explore the questions of divergence and reconceptualization of women's leisure with notions derived from Giddens's structuration theory. In the second section these theoretical notions are used to structure empirical findings from the Netherlands. This results in three different types of women's leisure. The traditional family type has a long history, while the modern family type and the individualistic type are rather new. Each type can be characterised by a specific division of leisure into own time, leisured caring time and leisured labour time and by a specific time-space behaviour. Both the modern family type and the individualistic type are strongly related to women's growing participation in the labour market, which for the former type goes hand-in-hand with an unequal gender division of work. The expectation is that, rather than the individualistic type, the modern family type will become most widespread in the Netherlands and that therefore unequal gender relations in the labour, caring and leisure domain will endure.     

Volunteer tourism and the “voluntoured”: the case of Tijuana,Mexico

This paper explores resident attitudes to volunteer tourism in several small communities within Tijuana, Mexico. Social exchange theory has been used to argue that the degree of personal benefit from volunteer tourism would predict residents' perceptions of the impacts of volunteer tourism and support for volunteer tourism planning and for volunteer tourism activities. Survey research of a purposive sample targeted several neighborhoods within Tijuana that were extensively “voluntoured”. Results indicate mixed support for social exchange theory. Implications are discussed concerning the need for volunteer tourism organizations to include a variety of community stakeholders in the volunteer tourism development process.     

Examining Chinese College Students’ Intention to Travel to Japan Using the Extended Theory of Planned Behavior: Testing Destination Image and the Mediating Role of Travel Constraints

Understanding the decision-making process and predicting travel behavior are critical for destination tourism marketers. This study develops and tests a structural equation model using the extended Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to explain Chinese college students’ intention to travel to Japan. Ten hypotheses were proposed regarding the relationships between destination image, travel constraints, and the original TPB constructs. The results of structural analyses reveal that the extended TPB has better predictive power for travel intention to Japan than the original one. Attitude is found to have the greatest impact on intention to travel to Japan. The mediating role of travel constraints shows a significantly negative effect on the relationships between the predictors and travel intention except for the relationship between perceived behavioral control and travel intention. The results of this study can help improve marketing promotions and the development of more effective destination positioning strategies for Japanese inbound tourism.     

Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery: Re‐enactment Event Tourism as Authentic Heritage Travel

Abstract

Heritage tourism has evolved to include study of sub‐segments who travel to attend and participate in historical event re‐enactments. In the US, the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark expedition to the Pacific coast and back again is being commemorated from its point of departure to its end. This paper is an exploratory study of a sample of re‐enactment tourists who attended three of the Lewis and Clark events. The role that re‐enactment tourism plays in heritage tourism is examined and preliminary findings on perceptions of nostalgia and authenticity of the re‐enactment products and events are presented. Preliminary managerial benefits and suggestions for host communities are provided.     

Examining the relationship of work–family conflict to job and life satisfaction: A case of hotel sales managers

The study was designed to clarify the ambivalent relationships between work–family conflict (WFC) and measures of satisfaction. Both the direct and indirect effects of WFC on job and life satisfaction were investigated. Job satisfaction was also separated into two components: affective reaction and cognitive appraisal. Data were collected by a field survey of 121 sales managers from 26 hotels in China. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) indicated a critical role of one's affective reaction to his/her job in the relationship between WFC and life satisfaction. Specifically, the present study found that both work interfering with family (WIF) and family interfering with work (FIW) have significant negative association with an individual's affective reaction to his/her job, while only FIW reduced the cognitive appraisal of a job. Further, affective reaction, rather than cognitive appraisal, had a significant positive correlation with life satisfaction. Finally, FIW was negatively associated with life satisfaction. The results suggest the strategic role of family friendly human resource polices in hotels.     

Self-efficacy and sustainable rural tourism development: local communities’ perspectives from Kuching,Sarawak

The future of the tourism industry is dependent on local communities’ ability to develop and sustain tourism developments, especially in sensitive rural areas. But there is limited research on this topic to guide tourism authorities and governments. In particular, few studies have studied sustainable rural tourism development from the perspective of the local communities. Therefore, this study examines local communities’ views on their capability to achieve sustainable rural tourism development in selected rural areas in Kuching, Sarawak. Questionnaires were distributed to the local communities residing at three rural tourism destinations in Kuching, Sarawak. Interestingly, the results indicated that local communities’ self-efficacy has a positive relationship with social, cultural, economic, and environmental sustainability. Hence, this study offers theoretical and practical contributions to sustainable rural tourism development literature and the tourism industry.     

Toward a model of destination resident–environment relationship: the case of Gulangyu,China

This study tested an integrative model to better understand residents’ environmentally responsible behaviour (RERB) and willingness to sacrifice for the environment (WTS) using a sample of 430 residents on Gulangyu Island in China. Results show that destination environmental quality and eco-friendly reputation directly affected resident environmental identification and environmental commitment. Destination eco-friendly reputation directly influenced RERB and WTS. Both resident environmental identification and commitment directly affected RERB and WTS. Furthermore, environmental identification and environmental commitment fully mediate the effects of environmental quality on RERB and WTS, and partially mediate the effects of destination eco-friendly reputation on RERB and WTS.     

Can community-based tourism contribute to sustainable development? Evidence from residents’ perceptions of the sustainability

In this paper, the research gaps in sustainable tourism development were addressed by examining residents' perceptions of the sustainability of community-based tourism based on tourism area life cycle theory. The survey questionnaire was distributed to the residents of six Taiwanese communities, and it was designed to determine the residents' perceptions of the economic, socio-cultural, environmental, and life satisfaction sustainability of tourism. In total, 849 usable questionnaires were collected. The analytical results further elucidated the sustainability of nature-based tourism and suggested that the economic, socio-cultural, and environmental sustainability varied significantly in the consolidation, development, and involvement stages of community-based tourism development. The four dimensions of sustainability were evaluated according to the pre- and post-development perceptions of tourism sustainability, and significantly different results were obtained. The study concludes that the residents’ perceptions differed across the developmental stages; thus, managers should consider the development opportunities and adopt appropriate strategies across different development stages.     

De‐exoticizing Tourist Travel: Everyday Life and Sociality on the Move

Abstract

Tourism is traditionally treated as an escape from everyday life and tourism theory is concerned with extraordinary places. Tourism and everyday life are conceptualized as belonging to different ontological worlds. The former is the world of the extraordinary while the latter is one of the ordinary. This interdisciplinary review article argues that this separation is flawed by examining research that shows how leisure travel, tourism and everyday life intersect in complex ways. It begins with a conceptual discussion of the everyday, which works as the theoretical foundation for the article. Then the article outlines how everyday routines and conventions inform tourism performances: much traditional tourism revolves around socializing pleasantly with one’s co‐travelling family and friends, while more and more tourism concerns visiting friends and family members living elsewhere. The conclusion discusses what consequences an everyday life perspective has for future tourism research.