A model of destination image formation

Image has been shown to be an important influence in the selection of vacation destinations. A model that represents the important determinants of destination image formation was developed based on previous studies in a number of fields. The research reported in this article presents the results of an empirical test of the model using path analysis. A major finding of the study was that a destination image is formed by both stimulus factors and tourists' characteristics. The results of this investigation provide important implications for strategic image management and can aid in designing and implementing marketing programs for creating and enhancing tourism destination images.     

Destination place planning and design

Destination place management requires that land use and development issues be addressed. Despite considerable advancement in the methodological processes, there is still no clear conceptual destination model to address these issues. Existing models have largely been developed through a fragmented case-study approach and have not yet achieved a sufficiently integrated conceptual basis for a comprehensive understanding of the spatial characteristics of destination regions. This paper attempts to sharpen the conceptualization of the core elements of destination regions by building upon existing models and concepts. The model presented here is a systemic construct and provides for a common platform from which investigations can proceed into the normative and functional aspects of spatial destination design.     

Tourism employment during economic transition

This study examines labor mobility into tourism employment during economic transition. Working from the proposition that the industry serves as a refuge, it discusses the inward mobility patterns from other economic sectors, assesses the impact of the change, and measures the motivations for taking up such occupations. The study found that workers came from an unusually wide range of industries, which supports the idea of upheaval in the labor market. While there is little indication it is causing widespread personal suffering, evidence for the “refuge” role of tourism was found. Employment in this industry emerges as being attractive and accessible for people with various stock of human capital.     

The resort lifecycle theory: Generating Processes and Estimation

One of the most discussed paradigms in the literature on destination development is the lifecycle model. Although varieties of lifecycle paths have been described, they have been drawn up without consideration of the underlying generation processes. This article examines the time path of tourist growth patterns that could give rise to such a cycle and in doing so, permits the exact demarcation of the five stages of the lifecycle. The model is tested using long run time series and the overall conclusion is that the restrictions imposed by the aggregation process limit the resort cycle paradigm, in a quantitative context, to being no more than a statistical caricature of the real world.     

Main destination ratios : Analyses of tourist flows

Published data such as those from the World Tourism Organisation omit statistics about multidestination trips. The main Destination Ratio and its derivatives provide a partial remedy, illuminating patterns and trends that otherwise may be hidden. The techniques are illustrated by data about trips in one year by Japanese, New Zealanders, and Australians to sixteen countries, and about Australians' visits over thirteen years to Singapore and Hong Kong. The techniques' distinction is data collected at two points in a tourism system; conventional statistics about traveler-tourist flows usually rely on one point. Practical applications of the new techniques are discussed.     

Point pattern analyses of accomodation in Toronto

This paper draws attention to the significance of large cities as tourist destinations and to the importance of accomodation establishments as a component of the urban fabric. Using accomodation directories as the major source of information, the changing numbers and types of accomodation are described and the spatial distribution of accomodation is analyzed using three methods of point pattern analysis. An increase in the number of establishments has been replaced by a more recent decline. There has also been a decline in the relative importance of motels. The average size of establishments has increased markedly and the very large hotels, which are less constrained spatially than the smaller units, nevertheless are concentrated in the downtown area and the airport environ.     

The travel career ladder: An Appraisal

This paper examines the state of the “travel career ladder” concept. It is argued that the research findings thought to support this concept are contradictory. In a sample of UK holidaymakers, it was found that while motives for taking vacations were consistent among all of the sample, those who had had a history of past tourism experience in a destination, or of similar types of holidays elsewhere, indicated a better match between wants and an ability to meet those desires. It seems that it is not a case of changing psychological needs resulting from past tourism experience as proposed by the “travel career ladder” model but rather a case of better meeting needs.

Résumé

L'échelle des expériences du tourisme: une évaluation. Cet article examine le concept de l'échelle des expériences. On affirme que les conclusions des recherches à l'appui de ce concept sont contradictoires. D'après une enquête parmi des vacanciers du Royaume-Uni, on a trouvé que, bein que les motivations des vacances soient stables pour tout le sondage, ceux qui avaient déjà voyagé à une destination ou qui avaient eu ailleurs des vacances similaires ont indiqué une meilleure correspondence entre leurs désirs et la satisfaction de ces désirs. Ce n'est pas un cas, semble-t-il, de changer les besoins psychologiques selon les expe riences du passé comme on le suggère avec le modèle de «l'échelle des expériences du tourisme» sinon un cas de mieux satisfaire aux besoins.     

The positioning of overseas honeymoon destinations

The objective of this study was to investigate the competitiveness of seven overseas honeymoon destinations among potential Korean tourists, and the positioning among them. The main analytical techniques used were multidimensional scaling and correspondence analyses. Results included a variety of information on image similarity, strengths, and ideals of destinations among seven sites, as well as the relationships of major sociodemographic and tourism variables to the sites. The results provide significant insights for a more effective approach to the market positioning of competing places for a honeymoon trip.     

Resort cycle revisited: The retirement connection

This article reappraises the Butler model of resort evolution with the addition of a focus on retirement-tourism relationships. The model predicts retirement will emerge as a major factor in resorts as tourism goes into decline, but an examination of trends in Parksville and Qualicum Beach, British Columbia, Canada, revealed retirement has been a feature of those resorts since their early days and has grown alongside tourism. However, an analysis of content of local newspapers revealed that the two communities came to appreciate the retirement sector with their first major downturn in tourism, which in itself partially supports Butler's thesis.     

Tourism's regional development impacts : A comparative analysis of the Greek islands

This paper explores the conditions that determine tourism development and theorizes how these conditions lead to a variety of impacts on host communities. Thirty-eight Greek islands were statistically analyzed using secondary data and a smaller sample was studied in greater detail through a comparative case-study approach. While the quantity of tourism development was found to be subject to demand, its quality and integration with other sectors were associated with the size of the community. Tourism impacts were found to be beneficial in larger islands. In smaller islands with high tourist activity, while a reverse in declining demographic patterns has been observed, tourism was found to create unstable, short-term, and dualistic development. The paper concludes that factors such as the local institutional capacity to absorb development and the potential interaction of locals and tourists should be considered in the making of tourism policy.     

U.S. tourist destinations: A history of desirability

This study supplies a ranking of the most desirable tourist destinations for US travelers from 1907 through 1980, as gauged from a content analysis of travel-related advertisements appearing in two national magazines; Harper's Monthly and National Geographic. The amount of advertising space that features each destination is calculated, and from these totals the rankings of desirable destinations are derived. Maps and accompanying narrative give external validity to the content analysis, while use of consistent coding forms provides reliability. Listings of frequently visited areas accompany each map and narrative, and these in turn generally agree with those developed from the advertisements.     

The resort cycle and second homes

Second homes are a major feature of tourism in much of North America and Western Europe. Unfortunately, many models are not applicable to the unique aspects of cottage tourism. This article examines a widely accepted resort cycle concept in order to determine its applicability to second homes. The study area of Sauble Beach (Ontario, Canada) at first appears to be a clear example of the stagnation and decline stages of the resort cycle. However, the inclusion of the growth of residential development and cottage conversions reveals that despite its substantial decline in conventional tourism, the area is actually experiencing a revival. Consequently, a refinement to the resort cycle is proposed whereby a decline in tourism is counteracted by a stabilization reaction. The stage is portrayed graphically using a proposed associated cycle of the average length of stay by visitors and residents.     

A framework of tourist attraction research

Although tourist attractions are fundamental to the very existence of tourism, there have been few attemps to come to terms with the breadth of approaches that have been employed in their study. An examination of research methods used in the study of tourist attractions and the tourist attractiveness of places reveals that most studies can be classified into one or more of three general perspectives: the ideographic listing, the organization, and the tourist cognition of attractions. Each of these perspectives shares a distinct set of questions concerning the nature of the attractions, as expressed through the typologies used in their evaluation. At the same time, all three perspectives make comparisons based on the historical, locational, and various valuational aspects of attractions. This framework can be applied in the comparison and evaluation of tourist attraction related research.     

African-American travel agents: Travails and Survival

Social science research on the struggles of early and contemporary independent African-American travel agents represents a void in the literature. These agents experienced serious obstacles to survival during the past half-century, not only during times of racial segregation, but more recently with airlines and government regulations, expensive technological innovations, and significant industry demands. Six agents describe their histories, successes and failures, and the futures of independent Black travel agents; serious difficulties remain, including access to capital. A scenario identifies the start-up costs for an independent Black travel agency in a medium-sized Middle West metropolitan area to illustrate the problems that remain.     

Social impacts of tourism : Host perceptions

This study investigates the pergeptions of the residents of Nadi, Fiji, towards the impacts of tourism. A survey of 199 households revealed that residents (most of whom were dependent on the industry for their livelihood) supported the current magnitude of tourism and favored its expansion. Despite this very clear and generally positive view, the respondents identified specific negative and positive impacts that, in their view, affected the community. The results suggest that residents of communities dependent on tourism can clearly differentiate between its economic benefits and the social costs, and that awareness of certain negative consequences does not lead to opposition towards further tourism development.     

Ethnic politics and tourism: A British Case Study

This paper argues that one can better understand the phenomenon of ethnicity in the West through an analysis of tourism representations of a region's history and culture and of the many motives behind them. It examines the rise of a particular version of Shetland (United Kingdom) identity by linking the differing goals of the local bourgeoisie, as well as the bulk of the islands' inhabitants, with the projects of the Shetland Tourist Organisation and related groups. While this version of the Shetlandness is understood as providing a Durkheimian sense of unity for many inhabitants, its origins and increasing articulations with the economic and political goals of the islands' bourgeoisie are the main concerns of the paper.

Résumé

Développement économique et tourisme de randonneurs. Cet article soutient que l'on peut mieux comprendre le phénomène de l'ethnicité occidentale en analysant les représentations touristiques de l'histoire et de la culture d'une région et les motivations derrière ces représentations. On examine une certaine version de l'identité shetlandaise (Royauyme-Une) en reliant les différents objectifs de la bourgeoisie locale et de la majorité des habitants des îles, avec les projects de l'Organisation Touristique Shetlandaise parmi d'autres groupes. On comprent que cette version de l'identité shetlandaise donne un sens d'identité à la Durkheim à beaucoup d'habitants. Pourtant, l'objet principal de l'article est d'examiner les origines de cette version et sa relation croissante avec les buts économiques et politiques de la bourgeoisie shetlandaise.     

Sustainable tourism and the question of the commons

Sustainable development calls for wise management of natural, built, and sociocultural resources in destination areas. Resources created mainly for tourism are used in time by the local population as well. Many others are shared in common with local people in everyday life. More often than not, resources are overused and degraded, as is the unfortunate fate of most ‘common pool resources’. When this happens, sustainable development is severely threatened: economic wellbeing declines, environmental conditions worsen, social injustice grows, and tourist satisfaction drops. This paper analyzes the central role that common pool resources play in sustainable tourism development, outlines policy design principles for their management, and offers future research directions.     

Female tourists and beach boys: Romance or Sex Tourism?

Previous studies of female tourists and beach boys in the Caribbean have defined these relationships as involving either sex or romance tourism. The objective of this study was to determine which of these definitions was more applicable to relationships in the Dominican Republic. Male and female tourists as well as beach boys and female sex workers were interviewed. Romance and sex tourism were conceptualized as the two ends of a continuum of motivations rather than as distinct categories. Although there was some gender overlap in the continuum of romance/sex motivations, more of the female tourists were located toward the romance end and more of the male tourists toward the sex end of the continuum.     

Tourism demand constraints: A skiing participation

This article provides a critique of the existing literature on leisure constraints. Alternative models are discussed, including the new “negotiation of constraints” model. This study operationalized the new model in order to examine the limiting factors for participants and nonparticipants of skiing. Qualitative analysis revealed that nonskiers faced a number of intrapersonal obstacles, whereas skiers were constrained by time, family, or economic factors. Analysis of questionnaires indicated that economic factors were the major limitations for both groups. When the groups were compared, t-tests indicated that their differences were significantly greater for intrapersonal constraints, supporting the findings from the qualitative research. However, the results did not fully support the new hierarchical model of constraints.     

Tourism's contribution to the economy of Kenya

Between 1963 and 1980, tourism was one of the top three domestic exports of Kenya, along with coffee and tea. In evaluating an export industry, its linkages with other sectors of the economy, its import content, and its role as a source of domestic income and employment should be considered. This paper attempts such an evaluation of Kenya's tourist industry. Between 1968 and 1976, linkages between the tourism sector and domestic agriculture and food processing were improved. The tourist industry was not particularly import intensive in terms of intermediate goods when compared to the economy as a whole. Employment in and wages paid by the tourist industry were below what is expected when compared to tourism's share of GDP.