Does living in the vicinity of heritage tourism sites influence residents’ perceptions and attitudes?

Abstract

This study investigates whether the perceptions and attitudes of residents living within the vicinity of heritage tourism sites differ from those living further afield. It examines residents’ attitudes toward tourism development; community attachment; environment and culture attitudes; economic gain; and involvement, alongside the moderating role of distance from heritage tourism sites. In doing so, it investigates how the aforementioned factors influence residents’ perceptions of tourism development in their city. Data was collected from inhabitants of Kashan and Tabriz, two historic cities couched within Iran’s growing heritage tourism sector, and analyzed using partial least squares - structural equation modeling. The findings demonstrate significant differences between the perceptions of tourism impacts, economic gain, environmental and cultural attitudes, and involvement between residents living within the vicinity of heritage tourism sites and those living further afield. However, these findings contradicted the hypotheses; identifying higher positive perceptions, environmental and cultural attitudes, economic gain, and involvement for residents living far from heritage tourism sites. Further, the findings did not support the moderating role of distance for the effects of influencing factors on residents’ perceptions. Therefore, this study proffers significant theoretical contributions and practical implications with regards to developing sustainable tourism in Iran.     

The mediating effect of work–family conflict in the relationship between job stress and intent to stay: The case of tourism and hospitality workers in Macau

ABSTRACT

This study explores the mediating effect of work–family conflict in the relationship between job stress and intent to stay. The study revealed that once the intervention took place, employees' job stress has ceased to exert direct influence on their turnover intention. This signifies that work–family conflict is the underlying cause which discourages stressful employees to remain with their employer. The study was conducted in Macau to a group of tourism workers by means of street intercept survey.     

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.     

Can gamification improve the virtual reality tourism experience? Analyzing the mediating role of tourism fatigue

Although virtual reality (VR) technology has been increasingly applied in the tourism industry, improving the VR experience of tourists remains a challenge. Based on two studies, this paper examines how gamification can improve the VR tourism experience through reducing tourism fatigue. Study 1 explores the relationship between gamification, tourism fatigue, and tourist satisfaction. The results show that tourists are more satisfied with a gamified, rather than non-gamified, VR tourism experience, and that motivational fatigue plays a mediating role between gamification and tourism satisfaction. Study 2 provides further evidence that four elements in gamification (challenge, feedback, reward, and leaderboard) can alleviate motivational fatigue and improve tourist satisfaction, with feedback playing the biggest role. The findings have valuable practical implications for VR experience providers, for destination practitioners in VR experience enhancement, and for the application of gamification to the VR tourism experience.     

Examining tourism SME owners’ place attachment,support for community and business performance: the role of the enlightened self-interest model

This research examines how support for the local community by small tourism businesses influences their enterprise performance, and the extent to which the owners’ place attachment influences the level of support that they provide to the community. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling were used to analyse the responses from the owners of 298 small and medium tourism enterprises (SMTEs) operating in regional South Australia. Results of the analysis provide support for the validity of a structural model. The place attachment of tourism business owners has a significant positive effect on their support for the community which in turn has a significant positive effect on enterprise performance. The robustness of the structural model was tested through a series of invariance (equality) tests. Results demonstrate that the causal relationships among place attachment, support for community and enterprise performance hold true (are invariant) irrespective of the gender of the business owner, the size of the business, and/or the length of time the business has been operating. These findings have implications for research scholars in developing more robust tests of model relationships between and across groups, and for tourism policymakers aiming to support the sustainable development of regional tourism destinations.     

Urban residents’ place-based perceptions and attitudes toward tourism development: a comparison between the United States and China

This study aims to examine whether any cultural difference exists on the influence of residents’ place-based perceptions on perceived tourism impacts and support for tourism. A survey was distributed to urban residents in China and the United States. Structural equation modeling results show that self-esteem and self-efficacy were two important factors that influence residents’ attitude to tourism impacts in both contexts. Distinctiveness was only observed as influential in the China study, while continuity was not evident in either culture. Results imply the need for destination marketers to use various strategies to reach the target market.     

Sustainable tourism development and residents’ perceptions in World Heritage Site destinations

Set in Malaysia’s Lenggong Valley World Heritage Site (WHS), this paper uses stakeholder theory to explore the heterogeneity of positive and negative perceptions among residents and their effects on residents’ support for and participation in sustainable tourism development. Data from 221 completed questionnaire surveys revealed heterogeneous negative perceptions across residents’ age, level of education and economic involvement in tourism. Moreover, residents’ positive perceptions had a positive effect on their support for and participation in tourism development. This study contributes to the resident perception literature by using stakeholder theory to conceptualise the heterogeneity of residents’ perceptions and by examining the effects of those perceptions on their support for and participation in tourism development in a rural WHS destination in the developing world. Furthermore, the findings of this study have practical implications for local authorities aiming to improve residents’ support and participation in tourism planning for sustaining tourism development.     

The impact of successful cross-competencies on a career in tourism in Italy: the meeting point between the students’ perceptions and the requirements for professionals

ABSTRACT

The paper aims to understand how the changes occurring in the tourism sector are affecting the labor market in Italy, with a special focus on the relevance of successful cross competences (SCC). It focuses on comparing the relevance of these competencies in the perception of both students preparing to enter the tourism field and tour operators. The two-step study combined qualitative analysis that put forth specific characteristics of the tourism labor market in Italy through interviews with experts, and quantitative analysis that correlated the requirements of the tour operators to the ideas students have of what competencies tour operators entering the field should have. The results evinced differing perceptions of SCC and their relative importance in professional fields. Students manifest to miss awareness of the importance of SCC for their future careers. Furthermore, organizational ability, self-control and self-esteem were perceived by tour operators as the most important competencies to be acquired.     

Community attachment,tourism impacts,quality of life and residents’ support for sustainable tourism development

This study examined the formation of residents’ support for sustainable tourism development based on the social exchange theory and bottom-up spillover theory. A self-administered survey along with a structural analysis was used. Our result revealed that overall quality of life satisfaction influenced support for sustainable tourism development, and that material life domains and non-material life domains were two important determinants of overall QoL. Perceived sociocultural impacts of tourism had a significant relationship with non-material life domains. Perceived economic impacts of tourism influenced both material and non-material life domains. Community attachment and residents’ perceived impacts of tourism were significantly associated.     

Chinese international students’ psychological adaptation process in Korea: the role of tourism experience in the host country

This study aims to shed light on the effect of international students’ lifelong learning and dining experience during the trip in a host country on their psychological adaptation, place attachment, and sharing of tourism experience. Employing responses from 247 Chinese students in South Korea, a SEM (Structural Equation Modeling) technique was used for the analysis. The study found that lifelong learning positively influences dining-out flow experience, which in turn placed positive effects on psychological adaptation, place attachment, and sharing of tourism experience, whereas place attachment mediates the relationship between flow experience and both sharing of tourism experience and psychological adaptation.     

Negotiating heritage and tradition: identity and cultural tourism in Ærø, Denmark

Ronström's tradition/heritage dichotomy is used to explore issues of cultural inheritance in the Danish island of Ærø. The 2006 publication of Carsten Jensen's best-selling historical novel We, the Drowned turned the Baltic Sea village of Marstal into Denmark's best-known maritime community. Locally, however, there had long been a tradition of Marstallers contrasting their community's seafaring past to the reputedly agrarian identity of the island's other main village, the former market town of Ærøskøbing. The community rivalry between industrial Marstal and tourist-friendly, half-timbered Ærøskøbing finds expression in the two villages’ various tourist attractions. Jensen's novel has been embraced by both Marstallers and Danes in general, renewing interest in local traditions and the encouraging Marstal's development as a heritage town. Although We, the Drowned has become a tool for constructing community solidarity, it has also introduced a mode of heritage tourism that may clash with elements of the local identity.     

Undergraduate students’ perceptions of the importance of English in the tourism and hospitality industry

Educators commonly promote English as beneficial to future employability, but students’ perceptions of the importance of English in the tourism and hospitality industry are often not considered. It is important that students’ perceptions are examined as gaining better insights could allow more positive attitudes to both English and the industry being fostered. This study investigated the perceptions of students (n = 71) enrolled at a university in Japan and found no statistically significant differences based on gender, country of origin, year of study, work experience, or future work intentions. However, it was indicated that communicative competence, confidence, English listening, and English speaking were the factors perceived to be most important by the students. Consequently, it is suggested that tourism and hospitality courses should incorporate components that focus mainly on these skills, but not to the detriment of English reading and writing, which were also perceived as important.     

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.     

The effects of community factors on residents’ perceptions toward World Heritage Site inscription and sustainable tourism development

Using partial least squares-structural equation modeling, we analyzed data from 410 questionnaires completed by a sample of residents from the vicinity of the George Town World Heritage Site (WHS), Malaysia, to investigate the effects of community factors on residents’ perceptions and support for WHS conservation and tourism development. To conceptualize these relationships, we developed a framework based on social exchange theory (SET) and previous empirical evidence. While community attachment, cultural attitudes, community involvement, and community gain had positive effects on residents’ perceptions, the effects of community members’ gain and status consistency were particularly strong. Our results suggest that perceptions strongly influence support for WHS conservation and tourism development. Having examined a number of new resident perception factors, this study makes a significant theoretical and methodological contribution to the tourism and resident perception literature. Furthermore, this study has practical implications for future sustainable community development in the George Town WHS.     

Tourist experience of slow tourism: from authenticity to place attachment – a mixed-method study based on the case of slow city in China

ABSTRACT

This study connected slow tourism with the concept of authenticity and place attachment using a mixed-method approach. Different factors were seen as likely to influence the behavioral intention. Yaxi town (the first international slow city in China) was chosen as the research site. Results show that authenticity in the context of slow tourism include objective authenticity, constructivism authenticity and existential authenticity. Authenticity partly influence place attachment and behavioral intention; two dimensions of place attachment have significant effect on behavioral intention. Findings of this study can be applied to slow tourism marketing and slow destination management.     

The young generations’ conceptualisation of cultural tourism: colonial heritage attractions in South Korea

This study investigates how the younger generation conceptualise cultural tourism attractions associated with modern history in contemporary South Korea. Particular attention in this study is given to heritage attractions built in the Japanese colonising past. By analysing data obtained through a Multiple Sorting Procedure, this study identifies the underlying facets of heritage attractions the younger generation consider to be important when appreciating the heritage attractions. This study examines the socio-psychological properties and meanings that the heritage attractions communicate with respect to young Koreans’ sense of national identity. This study found that a range of constructs emerged in understanding heritage attractions. Social and political meanings embedded in the heritage attractions become a key determinant in appreciating heritage attractions with respect to a sense of national identity. These findings from South Korea suggest invaluable messages that can inform our understanding of, and planning regenerating negative-natured heritage attractions for tourism in contemporary society.     

Investigating individuals’ decision formation in working-holiday tourism: the role of sensation-seeking and gender

ABSTRACT

Despite the emergence of working-holiday tourism, little research has been carried out to understand working-holiday makers’ (WHMs) decision-making processes. This study was designed to examine the formation of WHMs’ intentions to participate in working-holiday tourism programs. A study model was proposed by extending sensation-seeking into Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and testing the difference between gender groups. An online survey was conducted with 369 WHMs in China. The study result indicated that the TPB model has a good fit to the data, and that the predictive power of the intention has been improved compared with the original TPB. The results from a structural equation reveal that three critical elements in TPB significantly formed individuals’ intentions for working-holiday programs, sensation-seeking formed positive and significant relationships with subjective norm (SN) and perceived behavioral control (PBC), and most importantly, significant differences were found between different gender groups. The study’s theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.     

Warfare tourism experiences and national identity: The case of Airborne Museum ‘Hartenstein’ in Oosterbeek,the Netherlands

This paper examines through an analysis of Dutch warfare tourism whether there is a relationship between the subjective perceived salience of Dutch identity and heritage tourists' motives, emotions and overall satisfaction. Using a social identity theory framework, this study provides a view of motives for Dutch warfare heritage tourism and the ways in which this specific variant of heritage tourism evokes different emotions and satisfaction evaluations in visitors. Specifically, we found that visitors who identified strongly as ‘being Dutch’ (the ‘in-group’) have stronger self-enhancement motives compared to those who identify less strongly, and that edutainment features strongly in the museum experience. Visitors seeking initiative/recognition express feelings of disappointment suggesting that the museum's symbolic function as a place of national in-group identity could be more highlighted. We demonstrate that an affirmative and engaged experience can manifest at nationally symbolic sites through positive historical narratives and entertainment, and through ‘in-group’ self-enhancement activities.     

The impact of relational identity on the relationship between LMX,interpersonal justice,and employees’ group commitment

Lord and Brown (2004) have suggested that relational identity plays a boundary role in the relationship between leader–subordinate congruence (leader affective behaviors and interactive justice) and subordinates’ attitudes and behaviors. The purpose of this study is to test this hypothesis in the context of China's hotel industry. A sample of 585 questionnaires from 43 two-five star hotels in Mainland China was analyzed. The results show that the moderating role of relational identity was not significant, though it did have a direct effect on group commitment.