The psychological process of travel destination choice

ABSTRACT

This paper reviews literature on travel destination choice and organizes these studies systematically. A “cell–system” structure is proposed to describe the psychological process of travel destination choice. When forming decisions on vacations, tourists gather information on potential destinations and evaluate visit intentions among potential destinations (“cell”). The visit intentions are successively compared while information is updated in the process (“system”). The “cell–system” structure provides a clear view of the psychological process of travel destination choice. Empirical studies based on the structure can provide further insights into why and how tourists choose travel destinations.     

Using an intersectionality perspective to uncover older Chinese female's perceived travel constraints and negotiation strategies

This study employed an intersectionality perspective to examine older Chinese female's perceived constraints to pleasure travel and how they negotiated through constraints while accounting for multiple intersected identities of age (older), gender (females), and race (Asian-Chinese). Results showed that eight types of constraints impact their travel behavior: “limited knowledge of tourism,” “health and safety concerns,” “culture shock,” “lack of travel partners,” “low quality service facilities,” “limited availability of information,” “negative reputation of tour guide,” and “few employer-paid vacations.” Study participants also discussed how they negotiated through constraints using strategies, i.e., “word-of-mouth advertising,” “group travel with friends,” “donkey travel,” “finding partners through square dancing,” “children's support,” and “being motivated to taste organic foods and breath fresh air.” The findings provided a glimpse into potential modifications to constraint theory and revealed how tourism marketers can target and serve older female tourists in China by providing opportunities for them to negotiate through constraints.     

The language of Japanese tourism

This paper discusses the way in which language is used in contemporary Japanese travel brochures. What concepts do travel agencies use to attract tourists? What themes continually recur in the advertising literature? Many of these concepts and themes are the same as those important to tourism in the Western world, but there are certain cultural themes or ways of treating tourist attractions which are peculiar to Japanese tourism. A second aim is to consider the “keywords” of Japanese tourism: those stressed in the advertising for domestic tourism and those stressed for international tourism. The relation between these two possibly antagonistic sets of keywords is discussed in terms of the ideological principles around which Japanese society is organized, and it is hypothesized that keywords for international tourism portend great and long-term changes in the fabric of Japanese society.     

Tourism at Khajuraho an Indian enigma?

The Hindu temple complex at Khajuraho in central India has become a major tourist site for Indians and international tourists only in the past twenty years. Built as a court nearly a thousand years ago, but abandoned two centuries later, Khajuraho remained a minor pilgrimage site into the present century. The distinctive features of Khajuraho include thousands of explicitly sexual relief carvings, much publicized throughout India. Westerners are direct in their examination of these features, which remain problematic to the majority of Indian tourists. In contemporary puritanical India, where journals and movies are highly censored, Khajuraho offers an opportunity for the loosening of such rules with highly philosophical efforts to “explain away” such “obscenities.” Yet communitas is incomplete: women are discouraged from close examination of the depictions, and men fail to communicate with their families about their content.     

Residents' Perceptions Toward the “Chinese Tourists' Wave” in Hong Kong: An Exploratory Study

Mainland China experienced an extraordinary progress in its economy in the past two decades which directly stimulates more outbound travels. Considering the geographical proximity and political ties between Hong Kong and Mainland China, the share of inbound tourists to Hong Kong has been, and will continuously be, largely occupied by Mainland Chinese tourists on an uprising basis. The phenomenon of the “Chinese tourists' wave”, operationalizing as the influx of tourists from Mainland China, has brought tremendous change on Hong Kong's tourism industry, economy and local community. It is, thus, of necessity to understand the perceptions and response toward this phenomenon from local residents' perspective as they are the stakeholders of local tourism. Drawing on the findings from three focus group interviews with 18 Hong Kong residents, three conventional dimensions, namely “Economic”, “Social-cultural” and “Environmental” were identified and discussed to demonstrate the local residents' perceptions toward the impact of “Chinese tourists' wave” phenomenon. Generally, residents tend to recognize the positive economic impacts as well as negative social–cultural and environmental impacts generated from this tourism phenomenon. The recommendations suggested in this study also serve as a reference for tourism authorities concerned to redress the existing problems.     

Foreign travel and tourism prices and demand

Sunday, Alexander A., “Foreign Travel and Tourism Prices and Demand,” Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. V, No. 2, April/June 1978, pp. 268–273. Using regression analysis and panel data this study estimates the parameter effect of prices on American demand for foreign travel and tourism. Findings suggest that higher air fares generate fewer tourists but greater expenditure per tourist visit.     

The tourist art market as a factor in social change

Richter, Dolores. “The Tourist Art Market as a Factor in Social Change,” Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. V, No. 3, July/September 1978, pp.323–338. This paper disputes the theory that participation in the tourist art market has had limited economic impact on African artists. An analysis of social changes that have occured in the social organization of a group of traditional woodcarvers indicates that tourist art market participation is directly responsible for significant changes in many social institutions. It has also provided the economic means by which the carvers have been able to respond positively to government policies and regulations aimed at modernization.     

Residents' Perceived Impacts of Gaming Development in Macau: Social Representation Perspectives

The purpose of the research was to provide a better understanding of local residents' perceived impacts of gaming tourism based on social representations theory. An empirical investigation was conducted in Macau, where gaming tourism is under explosive development. Through a survey of 396 local residents, two social representation groups were identified: “Ambivalents” and “Rationalists”. The two social representation groups presented significantly different perceptions and attitudes toward the impacts of gaming tourism in Macau. The three most significant factors that influenced residents' representations were personal income, perceptions of gaming tourism being able to increase personal/family income, and satisfaction with government performance in managing gaming tourism development. The research provides theoretical implications for future gaming impact studies and also practical ones for local governments and stakeholders in the tourism industry in Macau and other gaming destinations.     

A Critical Investigation of the Bargaining Behavior of Tourists: The Case of Hong Kong Open-Air Markets

Shopping has long been recognized as an indispensable tourist activity. Hong Kong's open-air markets, where a multitude of bargaining activities can be observed, ranked as the second most popular of the island territory's diverse range of attractions in 2008 in terms of tourist arrivals. To develop cutting-edge marketing strategies that promote tourists' enjoyment of their bargaining adventure and ultimately enhance the overall shopping experience, the study reported in this article was aimed at identifying the dimensions underlying tourists' perceptions of the importance of 18 bargaining motivators and 12 bargaining attitudes and types of bargaining behavior, respectively, and subsequently evaluating the predictability of these underlying dimensions on tourists' shopping contentment indicators (overall bargaining satisfaction, the likelihood of a subsequent visit, and the likelihood of recommending open-air markets to others). A non-probability quota sampling technique was used to survey 203 Asian and non-Asian tourists in Hong Kong. A multivariate approach encompassing factor analysis and multiple regression was employed: Factor analysis delineated four underlying dimensions of factors affecting bargaining intentions. “Value for money” was shown to be the factor rated most important to tourists' bargaining intention; similarly, two underlying dimensions of bargaining attitudes and behavior—“bargain for psychological well-being” and “bargaining intensity”—were identified. Multiple regression results indicated the statistical significance of “bargaining for psychological well-being” and “bargaining intensity” to the existence of positive relations between shopping contentment indicators.     

Insights into the repeat vacation phenomenon

The study focused upon the repeat visitor. Data were collected with a structured questionnaire at two Texas Highway Visitor Centers and through indepth personal interviews with a small sample. A majority of the sample were returning to a destination that had been visited before. Compared to those visiting a destination for the first time, repeat visitors were more likely to be older individuals seeking relaxation and visiting a friend and/or relatives on their vacation. The qualitative component of the study uncovered five factors which contributed to people returning to a familiar destination. They were a reduced risk that an unsatisfactory experience would be forthcoming; an assurance that they would find “their kind of people” there; emotional childhood attachment; to experience some aspects of the destination which had been omitted on a previous occasion; and to expose others to an experience which had previously been satisfying to respondents.     

Never on Sunday? Mexican tourists at the beach

This paper examines contemporary middle class Mexican recreational tourism through a micro-ethnographic study of tourist behavior at a small beach resort in the state of Chiapas. Majority behavior represents the inversion of aspects of normal behavior, particularly in the deregulation of meal-times, night and day activities, and the rules for play. It is hypothesized that the particular, and comparatively excessive, behaviors described may stem from both the historically antecendant Spanish and Indian cultures, with their baroque tendencies, and from the recent liberation of the new middle classes from the “Victorian-like” rules of daily behavior. Behavior at the beach resorts resembles earlier types of vacation in the U.S.A. and this suggests there may be an evolution of tourist behaviors characteristic of the historical situation of the national home cultures of the tourists.     

The Grand Isle,Louisiana resort cycle

Grand Isle, the most popular resort on the Louisiana Gulf Coast, has experienced an increase in shoreline erosion and a decrease in attractiveness in recent decades. Viewing the historical evolution of the resort within the framework of Butler's “resort cycle” reveals that cultural processes are largely responsible for these developments. Individual stages of resort evolution on Grand Isle have been accompanied by changes in settlement patterns, changes in environmental perception, and increasing effort to “fix” a naturally dynamic shoreline. Attempts to maintain a stable beachfront have only heightened the problem and helped propel Grand Isle into the stagnation stage of the resort cycle. Past adherence to the resort evolution model indicates onset of the decline stage. Whether a major beach nourishment/island protection project completed in late 1984 represents more than a temporary rejuvenation of the resort depends upon its effectiveness.     

Assessing tourism's more complex consequences

Runyan, Dean and Chung-Tong Wu, “Assessing Tourism's more Complex Consequences,” Annals of Tourism Research, October/December 1979, VI(4):448–463. The development of tourism can have extensive physical, social and economic impacts. Certain of these impacts can be classified as relatively complex: those that take many variables to describe, are difficult to quantify and which are sensitive to policy or other difficult-to-predict interventions. The involvement of residents in an impact estimation process can serve to both forecast and appraise these relatively complex impacts. Relatively few techniques are available for estimation of complex impacts which do not rely almost exclusively on the intuition of professionals. Those that make use of lay individual input include Delbecq procedures, Delphi and IMPASSE. These techniques can be used to identify potential impacts by structuring group discussions. A two-stage approach to estimating complex impacts is proposed.     

基于旅游生命周期理论的历史文化街区居民身份认同对旅游发展意向的影响研究

研究以旅游生命周期理论为基础，以武汉市9个处于不同旅游生命周期的历史文化街区为研究区域，通过质性数据分析探讨了居民身份认同对其旅游发展意向的影响，并对处于不同旅游生命周期的街区进行了比较分析。研究发现：居民身份认同主要从情感因素、经济因素、社会环境因素、旅游发展要素、文化因素等方面对其旅游发展意向产生影响；依据身份认同强弱与旅游发展意向正负的交互组合，可将居民分为4种认同-意向类型：积极拥护者、传统坚守者、经济至上者和无为参与者；在不同旅游生命周期阶段的历史文化街区，居民身份认同对其旅游发展意向的影响各异：在参与和巩固阶段街区，传统坚守者突出；在发展阶段街区，积极拥护者占主导；在巩固阶段街区，积极拥护者和无为参与者兼而有之，且二者冲突尤为激烈。最后，针对不同旅游生命周期阶段居民的类型和特征，提出了促进居民参与街区旅游发展与保护的建议。     

Are we all environmental tourists now? The role of biases in social comparison across and within tourists,and their implications

From a management and research perspective, it is important to get a better understanding of what influences tourists in their decision to choose environmentally friendly travel options, and how these are related to social cognitive processes. This paper reports findings from two separate studies investigating the role of biases in social comparison, with particular reference to tourists' perception of their personal roles as environmentally friendly tourists, and especially tourists’ views of the environmental attitudes of other tourists. Samples of N = 1607 and N = 2076 tourists, respectively, were obtained for two studies in Western Norway. Results indicate that tourists perceive themselves to hold more pro-environmental attitudes than other tourists (i.e. “typical tourist”, “average tourist”, “tourists”). This suggests that there are differences in the perception of the self and others when it comes to social comparisons concerning issues of environmental sustainability. The findings also suggest that tourists hold overly positive views of themselves generally concerning issues of environmental sustainability and that their environmental attitudes reflect perceived desirable standards. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed from a social psychological perspective, and implications for tourism managers and researchers noted.     

Photograph's role in tourism : Some unexplored relationships

Chalfen, Richard M., “Photography's Role in Tourism: Some Unexplored Relationships,” Annals of Tourism Research,” October/December 1979, VI(4):435–447. While photography is one of the most common attributes of tourist behavior, its role in tourism has never been studied. Tourist photography is understood as both photographs made by tourists and photographs made available to tourists by members of the host community. This paper draws attention to three unexamined topics: the relationship between certain tourist types and patterns of photographic behavior and/or content of photographs; the culturally variable standards of appropriate subject matter and camera use in different parts of the world; and the variety of responses exhibited by host communities to being photographed. Examples are given of host sensitivities and camera related disturbances. A trend is noticed in which host communities specify which images are appropriate and inappropriate for tourist photography.     

Vacationers and the economic “double dip” in Europe

The subject of this study concerns individual vacationers' reactions to the global economic crisis. This crisis is lasting longer than expected, resulting in Europe in a “double dip”. Vacationers can use different strategies to cope with this crisis: from pruning (giving up the vacation) via cheese-slicing (economizing on vacation attributes) to non-economizing. Based on a theoretical framework, it was predicted that over time the pruning segment would become larger than the cheese-slicing segment. A longitudinal study in The Netherlands, covering 4 years, shows economic developments having a relatively minor effect on vacationers' holiday plans and intentions, with no increase in the size of the pruning segment. Six vacationer segments were found, three of which can be considered to be crisis-resistant. Each segment pursues different economizing strategies, with each requiring a customized marketing strategy. Five explanations are proposed for the relatively limited influence of the economic “double dip” on Dutch vacationers. Future research can be directed to comparing vacations with other consumer products, in order to explain the crisis-resistance of vacation planning during this economic crisis.     

Tour guide performances as sight sacralization

According to sociologist Dean MacCannell, sights are transformed into tourist attractions through five stages of “sight sacralization”: naming, framing and elevation, enshrinement, mechanical reproduction, and social reproduction. This paper hypothesizes that these stages of sight sacralization should have spoken correlates in the performances of tour guides. Through an ethnographic analysis of tour performances at the Lindheimer Home, this study shows how spoken correlates of these stages ritually transform an unimposing cottage into a valued cultural sight. The enshrinement stage, more than any other, has the potential to accomplish a ritual transformation of liminoid tourists into a state of communitas with the hostess and tour sight. The only sacralization stage without spoken correlates is mechanical reproduction. Yet the printed brochure serves as an analogue to tour performances. The paper suggests ideas for future studies of tour guide sacralization based on an examination of the structural oppositions and symbolic inversions which define types of tour performances.     

Gangs and Deviant Leisure

The objectives of this study, guided by the principles of the social learning theory, were to explore the participation and motivations of gang members for involvement in deviant leisure activities. In-depth individual interviews were conducted with 30 former gang members residing in Chicago and central Illinois. The findings showed that their leisure behavior included house parties that typically included the use of drugs, alcohol, and sex; “hanging around” on street corners and “gangbanging” violence perpetrated against members of opposing gangs or other members of the same gang; and various types of vandalism. Motivations for involvement in deviant leisure included those outlined in the social learning theory, as well as thrill and pleasure from committing crimes and achieving flow-like states. The research confirmed that both individual factors and social processes contributed to explaining gang members' involvement in deviant pastimes.