Tourism's vulnerability and resilience to terrorism

Personal security is a major concern for tourists. Most tourists will seek safe and secure destinations and avoid those that have been plagued by terrorism. This research quantifies the relationship between terrorism and tourism in 95 different countries and territories using international tourism demand models. After controlling for income, we find there is no long run effect of terrorism on international tourism demand and the short run effect is quite limited from a global perspective using panel data models. Only nine countries out of the 95 show a long run impact of terrorism on tourism and 25 countries out of the 95 show a short run impact using time series models, implying that international tourism is resilient to terrorism. The influence of terrorism is diverse in destinations with different political instability, income levels and tourism intensities.     

A strategic framework for terrorism prevention and mitigation in tourism destinations

Tourism destinations and tourists have always been ‘soft targets’ for terrorist activities. Although it is widely acknowledged that it is no longer a question of ‘if’ terrorists will strike but rather a question of ‘when’, ‘how’ and ‘how prepared’ the destination is to deal with them, the crisis management frameworks proposed by the literature appear to offer little help to tourism authorities in the development and implementation of a strategy aiming at the prevention and mitigation of terrorist attacks. This paper first discusses the premise that Destination Management Organizations can and should play an active role in the co-ordination of tourism stakeholders in addressing the threat of terrorism. Then, based on the analysis of interviews with 16 experts on terrorism and tourism, it offers a framework for the development and implementation of a destination-specific anti-terrorism strategy.     

Crisis Management Planning to Restore Tourism After Disasters

SUMMARY

The tourism industry is vulnerable to natural and human induced incidents such as terrorist attacks, political instability, flood and earthquakes. On September 21st 1999, a devastating earthquake struck Taiwan which caused severe damage to both local people and the tourism industry. This paper proposes an innovative integrated approach that could be adopted as a crisis management plan for Taiwan to restore its tourism industry. A thorough review of the crisis management literature is introduced and examined to generate an integrated crisis management framework. It is anticipated that this framework could accelerate tourism recovery by showing secure images for tourists, and hence the competitiveness of a tourist nation could be enhanced through sound crisis management practices.     

Government management of tourism — a Thai case study

This article examines the relationship between government and the tourism industry and the problems of that relationship as both strive for more effective management to meet the challenge and changes of the 1980s. Attention is focused on the role of government and the political input, the tourism management agency, the government administrative system, the industry, and the response of these various groups to demands on the tourism sector. The article concentrates on Thailand but many problems experienced are common to most countries and arise from the nature and role of government and the tourism industry and their relationship.     

Political implications of Chinese tourism policy

This study is an examination of the political objectives and probable consequences of the decision to open the People's Republic of China to mass tourism. Through personal interviews and other reports, this article traces the organizational and political dimensions of the abrupt reversal of nearly three decades of restricted and selective foreign access. The author found several anomalies: more “market” oriented cost structure than in most non- socialist developing nations; a hierarchy of tourist classes in a supposedly classless society; liberalization in tourism itineraries along with a freezing of contacts between tourist and Chinese. The article concludes that while China has reaped few tangible political benefits and has incurred some new political vulnerability with its new tourism policy, Chinese tourism has avoided many of the social and economic costs associated with tourism development elsewhere.     

Online tourism destination marketing in Kumasi Ghana

This study develops a conceptual research model to identify and induce local and international tourists to visit historical attractions and facilities in Kumasi the Ashanti region of Ghana. Websites provide valuable information about tourism destination marketing and tourism products to visitors and enhance tourists purchasing intentions. Data from a judgemental sampling technique were used for the research. Full time front desk employees from 36 hotels and 396 customers contributed to the study. A confirmatory factor analysis was used to evaluate the reliability and validity of the model measurements. The analytical results indicate that online destination image, online word of mouth, online security vulnerability test significant with tourists’ satisfaction as a mediator. The results also provide reliable reference for tourism administrators and researchers interested in online destination marketing and suggest that tourists perceive online security vulnerability as a menace to society and should be prevented.     

The influence of terrorism in tourism arrivals: A longitudinal approach in a Mediterranean country

This longitudinal study examines the impact that terrorist attacks within a representative group of European countries can have on the tourism demand of a South European country with no record of terrorism attacks. In order to analyze the connections between terrorist attacks and tourists' arrivals, occurred between 2002 and the end of 2016, an Unrestricted Vector Autoregressive model was used for multivariate time series analysis. The main results show that terrorist attacks have a strong impact on tourist arrivals and confirm the existence of terrorism spillover, namely the substitution and generalization effects phenomena.     

Perceived Impact of a Naval Base on a Tourism Destination

Perceptions toward tourism development have been explicitly and extensively investigated within the tourism literature. However, there is little study of perceptions toward non-tourism development (NTD) in tourist destinations. NTD in a tourist destination may be unavoidable, because as tourism grows, the destination may need more facilities and infrastructure to meet the needs of tourists and residents. Alternatively, the NTD may not enhance tourism at all, but rather compete for space and human, financial and political resources. The objective of this study is to reveal how residents of a small tourism-oriented island, JeJu Island in South Korea, would perceive NTD and examine ramifications of a naval base for tourism preferences. Residents were clustered into three groups based on their preferences for tourism activity, Tourism Supporters, Tourism Neutrals, and Tourism Opponents. Study results revealed that the three groups differed among socio-demographic variables as well as perceived cultural and local infrastructure impacts of NTD.     

Safety,security and peace tourism: The case of the DMZ area

It comes as no surprise that peace and tourism is an important topic today in tourism literature. Despite the strength of global tourist demand, many destinations, especially in the developing world, are facing fluctuations in tourist arrivals, due to unsafe political conditions. This study discusses the symbiosis between tourism and peace and its opposite, war, and the likely impacts of each condition on several tourist destinations. A turbulent security environment, caused by international and civil wars, coup d'etat and terrorist attacks has already demonstrated its negative impact on tourism development in many countries around the world (Taylor & Quayle, 1994). The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between safety, tranquility, peace, and successful tourism, using surveys completed by both international and domestic tourists. More specifically, it is about the effects of the absence of safety, security and peace on domestic and international tourism in the Korean demilitarized zone (DMZ) area. The general findings demonstrate that the subjects of the study view the implication of the existence of a peaceful environment on tourism favourably.     

Targeting sustainable outcomes with adventure tourism: A political ecology approach

Sustainability is a dominant paradigm in tourism research yet a lack of research on alternative tourism sectors to deliver sustainable outcomes hinders sustainable tourism research, planning, implementation, policy and management. This research uses a political ecology lens, to dissect how destinations can harness adventure tourism to achieve relevant sustainability objectives. Adventure tourism is not in itself sustainable but by targeting adventure travel that attracts passionate, high-paying tourists to participate in activities specifically suited to local landscapes, communities have the potential to create bespoke tourism products that fit the socio-ecological system and produce clear conservation and sustainable development outcomes.     

To go or not to go: travel constraints and attractiveness of travel affecting outbound Chinese tourists to Japan

The fast growth of the Chinese economy has transformed Chinese outbound tourism into one of the major players in the tourism industry worldwide. However, Chinese outbound tourists may still encounter travel constraints in some countries, such as Japan, which has had a close and complicated relationship in history with China. This study adopted the qualitative approach by applying focus group and in-depth interviews to investigate and triangulate the travel barriers affecting Chinese outbound travel to Japan. The findings indicated that domestic nationalist sentiment played a key constraining role in influencing Chinese outbound travel decision-making, followed by current political factors, while quality products and service, as well as social environment encouraged tourists to travel. This research also found that visitors and non-visitors have perception differences in terms of travel barriers and attractiveness of travel.     

Which accessible travel products are people with disabilities willing to pay more? A choice experiment

Despite the rapidly increasing number of tourists with disabilities, which is known to have a strong nexus with senior travel market, tourism industry has paid little attention to the distinctive preferences of these tourists for accessible travel products. Using a sample of Koreans with mobility disabilities, this study aims to better understand how they make decisions to choose optimal accessible travel products. The results of the choice experiment indicate that respondents place the heaviest weight on the accessibility of accommodation facilities for their maximization of travel satisfaction. The results also suggest that tourists with disabilities show higher willingness-to-pay values on particular tour buses equipped with more accessibility devices. Based on study findings, this study provides several management implications that help tourism professionals develop appropriate accessible travel products for their clientele with disabilities.     

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.     

Tourism Education in Austria and Switzerland

SUMMARY

Both Austria and Switzerland are small countries with a long tradition hosting tourists. Irrespective of high levels of economic development, the two countries also have high levels of tourism intensity when measured either in terms of number of tourists per native population or in terms of tourism receipts per population (e.g., per gross national product). Consequently, both countries also display a long tradition and evolution in their development of systems of tourism education and training albeit under differing market conditions and pressures. Both countries provide similar products like in the field of cultural tourism and alpine tourism. The tourism structure is also comparable. Both countries are dominated by family owned small and medium size businesses. However, their political structures are very different. This paper shows how each country under the three forces of labour market pressures and industry requirements, on the one hand and tourism education policy initiatives on the other has evolved two slightly different tourism education systems. Furthermore, an attempt was made to provide, based on the discussion in the first part of the paper, a more general explanation with respect to the response of tourism schooling/training supplies to varying conditions in tourism product markets, tourism employment and labour market systems, public choice decisions and general economic conditions. Finally, the paper discusses the paradigmatic shift (i.e., structural change) of tourism factor and product markets from the “Old to New Tourism” and discusses its implications for new types of tourism schooling and training in these two countries.     

Exploring tourists' perceptions of tourism impacts

Unlike how tourism is viewed by residents, little is known about how tourists feel about tourism in the destination. Nevertheless, studies have shown that tourists' emotional bonds with the destination positively affect their perceptions of and reactions to tourism in the destination. Such emotional bonds often vary based on tourists' previous experience in the destination. Thus, this study explored how tourists' emotional solidarity with residents influences their perceptions of tourism and how first-timers and repeat tourists differ in their views. To this end, 404 responses from South Korean sport tourists were analyzed. Though differences were not evident between first-timers and repeat tourists in their emotional solidarity or attitudes toward tourism, a positive relationship was confirmed between emotional solidarity and perceptions of tourism. The findings suggest that attitudes toward tourism is no longer a construct exclusive to residents and destination managers should also consider tourists' views.     

Uncertainty,economic growth its impact on tourism,some country experiences

This paper investigates in a time series framework over the period 1995 to 2016, the impact of uncertainty on tourism. The paper explores the causal association of both political uncertainty and economic uncertainty between tourism and other macroeconomic variables for the countries of France, Greece, and the United States. The political uncertainty is proxied through terrorism index and the economic uncertainty is explained through the Economic Policy Index. The unit root test and the ARDL cointegration are applied for unknown structural breaks. In the long run uncertainty adversely affects the tourism industry in all the countries under study.     

Investigating wellness tourists’ motivation,engagement, and loyalty: in search of the missing link

Wellness tourism is a rapidly growing sector of the current thriving tourism industry. The purpose of this study was to investigate tourists’ motivation and its relationship with engagement and loyalty at wellness tourism destinations. Specifically, tourists’ motivation was evaluated via four components: prestige and luxury; novelty and knowledge; self-development; and relaxation and escape. Tourists’ engagement was assessed from two perspectives: experiential and reflective. The study confirmed the impact of tourists’ motivation on engagement, which consequently leads to loyalty. The present research provides industry practitioners with strategies to understand and predict tourists’ behavior in wellness tourism destinations.     

旅游地日常生活的康复性意义研究——以丽江古城为例

健康是人类关注的永恒话题,旅游和健康本源上存在密切联系,近年来已成为旅游学及其交叉学科关注的研究热点。旅游地如何促进旅游者健康体验、幸福感甚至社会福祉,是亟待回答的学理和实践命题。基于此,文章将旅游地日常生活与旅游者健康体验联系起来,以丽江古城客栈主与旅游者为研究对象,通过深度访谈和参与式观察,明晰旅游情境中日常生活对于旅游者主观健康体验的积极作用。研究发现:(1)旅游地从空间、时间、社会实践3个维度营造了特定时空中的生活新范式与典范形态,建构了环境、日常生活与健康交互新面向;(2)旅游地日常生活为旅游者提供了物质、社会和心理多重资源,形成了生理、心理和精神、社会人际交往能力三维康复性意义结构;(3)旅游地日常生活的康复性意义是在旅游者与旅游地复杂性、动态性关联中建构的,并从生产与消费两端对康复性意义进行共同塑造与整合。研究从微观层面的日常生活出发,以实证分析回应了旅游、日常生活、健康体验之间的互动关联,为深入理解旅游的意义提供了新思考,也为旅游业实现美好生活需要提供现实指导。     

Tourists’ consumption and perceptions of red heritage

Although tourism suppliers project the positive changes visits wrought upon tourists, the latter do not mindlessly consume the information they receive. A research gap exists in understanding how tourists consume political heritage and read the embedded nationalistic discourses from an emic perspective. This paper adopts the framework of social situation analysis to explore how tourists consume and perceive Chinese communist heritage and how those visits can impact their attitudes towards and support for the CCP. The results suggest that tourists were driven by a variety of motives, participated in various activities, and had split opinions about the effectiveness of “red tourism” in enhancing their nationalism. Comparisons of people’s motivations and perceptions between activity-based clusters were conducted. Managerial implications are discussed.     

Tourists and community development: corporate social responsibility or tourist social responsibility?

Abstract

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities are usually determined, in large part, by head office and by shareholder interests. This article explores the unique case of tourism CSR which has a distinctive relationship with local communities. CSR programmes of hotels and resorts in the Global South are increasingly creating opportunities for tourists to engage directly with communities, yet the relationship between tourists and CSR – and how this impacts on community development outcomes – has so far been overlooked. Based on two separate research projects undertaken in Zambia and Fiji which examined hotel CSR from community perspectives, we show how these programmes were largely motivated, driven and financed by tourists. This suggests that, in the accommodation subsector of tourism, CSR is not only being shaped by head office, but that tourists can play a key role, leading us to coin the term TSR (tourist social responsibility). For community development initiatives in particular, this gives rise to both challenges and opportunities.