From fantasy to reality: a study of pre-trip planning from the perspective of destination image attributes and temporal psychological distance

Pre-leisure trip planning is often lengthy, and its consideration shifts from fantasy to reality. Using overseas international cities as the destination, and through destination image attributes, this paper uses construal level theory and temporal psychological distance to understand the dynamics behind this shift. The shift is, by and large, as predicted by construal level theory. This study shows that tourists are consistently concerned about certain attributes as the shift unfolds. It is recognized that although tourism is dream packed, it is filled with risks and constraints. The shift also reflects tourists’ increasing needs to address practical issues and to fill their itinerary as a trip approaches. This study proposes that the destination information provision service offered by DMOs have to address the needs for tourists to ‘dream’ about a destination, allay their concerns, and help them schedule their itinerary at various phases of the pre-trip planning stage.     

Cultural Immersion Trip to Southeast Asia: A Study of Cross-Cultural Intelligence

ABSTRACT

The primary purpose of this article is to demonstrate the execution of a successful short- term study trip to Southeast Asia and its influence on a student’s cultural intelligence. This article discusses an academic component of an international study trip that was developed for sophomores at a private university in the New England region of the United States. In an attempt to internationalize, the university led students on a 2-week international trip to Malaysia and Singapore known as the Sophomore International Experience. The authors have developed a model that combines an academically rigorous curriculum that juxtaposes domestic events/experiences with those of the foreign country and propose that the trip gives students first- hand international experience that prepares them to develop a global perception. The article evaluates the validity of the proposed theory with the help of the Cultural Intelligence Scale that measures significance improvements in cultural intelligence after taking the trip.     

Exploring Foreign Tourists’ Image of Tanzania: A Factorial Analysis Approach

Abstract

In the last decade, the economy of African continent and Tanzania in particular has witnessed a business boom of the tourism sector. While the sector has continued to grow and become a dependable source of direct and indirect employment to youths in urban and rural areas, the sector has been awash with challenges. These challenges include terrorism attacks, energy crises and poor infrastructure. However, the impact of these challenges on the image of Tanzania as a tourist destination has not received the deserved attention. This study explores the perception of visitors towards Tanzania as a tourist destination after they have completed their tourist visit. This study employs factor analysis technique to explore country destination image. Questionnaires were administered to visitors at some of the tourists’ hotels and Julius Kamabarage Nyerere International Airport (as a major exit point) in the country. Frontline employees, various tourist sites and access to services emerged to be strong tourist destination image factors. This implies that the efforts of marketing tourism destination should focus on promoting all the sites the country has.     

Do SARS-CoV-2 safety measures affect visitors experience of traditional gastronomy,destination image and loyalty to a World Heritage City?

Sars-Cov-2 paralyzed tourism, which only began to recover after the vaccine roll-out. This study investigates loyalty to a city based on the perception of COVID safety measures in traditional restaurants. To test eight hypotheses, the PLS-SEM method was applied to a sample of 154 tourists who visited Córdoba (Spain) for the traditional cuisine. Results show that visitors' perception of restaurants’ COVID safety measures affects their satisfaction with the restaurant and local cuisine, their general image of this World Heritage city, and their loyalty to it. Thus, appropriate coronavirus risk management can help ensure that visitors recommend and revisit the city.     

Twenty Shades of Italy: An Analysis of its Cultural,Natural, and Dual Tourist Attractions with Implications for Global Tourism Marketing

ABSTRACT

Natural and cultural tourism are the two main motivations for international tourists. The country of Italy is recognized for both of these dimensions. To fully understand the tourism characteristics of this geographically diverse and historically rich land, we compare 20 regions of Italy and identify major natural, cultural, and dual (both natural and cultural) tourist attractions as well as the number of tourists across these 20 regions. As far as we know, it is the first study of its kind to analyze tourism in Italy at the regional level. The findings of this research reveal four distinct clusters based on the regions resulting from “high versus low number of attractions” by “high versus low number of tourists.” We also analyzed secondary data on region-wise tourist-nights using discriminant analysis. The results showed that the dual (both cultural and natural) attraction sites are the most important in explaining differences in tourism across the different regions of Italy. We discuss implications of the results for global tourism marketing.     

The enchanted snake and the forbidden fruit: the ayahuasca ‘fairy tale’ tourist

ABSTRACT

This ethnographic study increases our understanding of Westerners seeking genuine fairy tale experiences of magic, transformation and enchantment within South American psychedelic ayahuasca tourism. Examining 63 tourists, this study shows how vision-based spirit sensegivers facilitate individuals in exorcising demons, to make sense of themselves as spiritual beings within an enchanted universe. However, and with this potion quickly wearing off upon returning to the West, tourists feel abandoned by their spirits, and disconnected from the fairy lands. Coupled with not wanting to re-experience intense inner tensions from stepping in and out of a fairy tale, further tourism is rejected. As such, ayahuasca tourism becomes a ‘forgotten’ fairy tale, rarely told.     

城市旅游地入境旅游负面感知评价研究 ——以苏州为例

厘清入境旅游发展过程中游客的负面感知情况,有助于针对性解决入境旅游市场增长缓慢、游客结构失衡等问题.本文选取苏州作为案例地,搜集入境游客的网络点评和游记,并运用扎根理论的方法进行分析,归纳出苏州入境旅游负面感知评价包括:传播形象不鲜明,核心吸引力不足,旅游服务质量不高,国际化旅游环境氛围欠缺4个核心范畴,且入境游客负面...     

Potentials of Sub-Saharan Africa in the Global Market for International Tourism

Abstract

This paper examines the future prospects of Sub-Saharan African region in the international market for tourism. This was achieved by analyzing past trends of international tourism arrivals and receipts in the region, and projecting these trends to the year 2010 using an amalgamation of four different time-series projection models after being evaluated by the MAPE. Results are given as confidence limits in three different scenarios. They show that arrivals of international tourists to Sub-Saharan Africa would increase from 17.9 millions in 2000 (end of observed period) to 28.9 million and 44.9 million tourists by the year 2010. The figures for receipts would go from $7.0b in 2000 to $11.0b and $15.3b by the year 2010. Receipts per capita (i.e., per tourist) would however decline at an annual rate of between ?0.48% and ?0.91% during the projection period. Socioeconomic impacts of these findings are given, and their implications for international marketing strategies and government public policies in Sub-Saharan Africa are discussed.     

Determinants of Visitors’ Intentions to Consume and Recommend Local Agro-Food Products

Previous research has revealed the relevance of consuming local food products in the visitor experience and in maintaining the sustainable development of tourism destinations. By reviewing the available studies in the field of tourism, attempts have been made to identify those factors influencing the consumption of local food products during a trip. However, few studies have analysed visitors’ behaviour in terms of their intentions to search for and recommend these products after returning to their home countries. The present study addresses this gap by analysing the factors that influence visitors’ intentions. A total of 500 international tourists in Portugal were interviewed and several linear regression models were used. The evaluation shows that the attributes of local agro-food products, food-related personality traits, and the motivations behind consuming these kinds of products emerge as the most important factors that influence visitors’ intentions to consume these products and to recommend them after a trip. However, the results also show differences in the determinants in terms of type of local agro-food product under analysis, as well as differences between the intention to consume and the intention to recommend. The theoretical and managerial implications of the findings are also presented.     

入境旅游者对我国旅游服务质量评价的对应分析

随着入境旅游者人数的增多，境外游客已经成为我国游客市场的重要组成部分。旅游服务质量是影响旅游收入的重要指标．旅游服务质量的高低直接影响旅游者的满意度和回头率，入境游客对于旅游服务质量的评价不得不引起重视。运用《2007中国旅游统计年鉴》的数据，对入境旅游者对我国旅游服务质量评价进行对应分析，分析了七个旅游服务类别对应的服务程度，探讨了七个旅游服务类别在服务质量上的差异。     

Local residents’ perception about tourism and foreign residents: A Spanish case study

It is important to learn about local residents’ perceptions in relation to tourism and the presence of tourists who eventually become foreign residents, since tourism development is bound to have consequences of an economic, sociocultural, and environmental nature. This paper has collected quantitative as well as qualitative information to analyze those effects in the case of a tourism destination located on Costa Blanca (Spain). The impact of tourism development is additionally associated with local residents’ satisfaction with their municipality. According to the conclusion reached, a connection exists between that satisfaction amongst local residents and the availability of new business opportunities, the development, and maintenance of good relationships between local residents, foreign residents and tourists, and the international atmosphere that arises as a result.     

Injury incidence,risk perception and product-related safety behavior among 18- and 45-year-olds

Abstract

Adolescents generally have twice the injury incidence of adults. This increased risk of injury may partly be a consequence of the types of activities performed, the level of exposure to products and the safety behavior. The purpose of this paper was to identify possible predictors for the increased injury risk of adolescents compared to adults. To this end, all 18- and 45-year-olds in a major city in Norway received a questionnaire asking for information on injury experience, level of use and risk perceptions concerning 14 specific products, and the adoption of safety measures; 686 18-year-olds and 81 o 45-year-olds answered the questionnaire. The adolescents reported a higher injury incidence as compared to adults for all the listed products. The difference was significant even after controlling for level of use. Adolescents also had higher levels of risk perception and decreased adoption of safety measures as compared to adults. Females reported less injuries but higher levels of risk perception than males. Females also adopted more safety measures. An important finding from this study was that adolescents, as compared to adults, also expose themselves to increased risk levels when ‘ordinary’ products are concerned, and not only in terms of well-known high-risk activities (driving fast, skiing downhill, etc.). This tends to support the idea that more general factors or dimensions of risk-related behaviors may exist which should be accounted for in the planning of injury prevention activities.     

景区旅游环境质量感知评价研究——以晋祠风景区为例

通过调查游客对旅游环境的感知和态度,对景区旅游环境质量进行分析和评价是一种行之有效的方法。以太原市晋祠风景区为例,运用访谈法和问卷调查法获取游客对旅游环境质量感知的一手资料,以此为基础数据对晋祠风景区的旅游环境质量进行评价,得出晋祠风景区旅游环境中存在的问题。结果显示:游客对晋祠景区旅游环境总体环境感知持保留态度;游客对晋祠风景区的自然环境呈正面、积极感知;游客对晋祠风景区的各项人文环境要素的感知存在较大差异,其中对景区内的物价和环境设施负面感知最为严重。     

Insights for a post-Brexit era: marketing the UK as a study destination – an analysis of Arab,Chinese, and Indian student choices

ABSTRACT

Britain’s scheduled exit from the European Union (‘Brexit’) has long-term ramifications for strategic marketing. Faced with new challenges and uncertainty, UK universities are increasingly looking beyond EU borders to recruit international students. In this context, we draw upon country-of-origin theory to categorise the factors that influence non-EU international student decisions to select an overseas study destination and institution. Based on the results of a survey with 317 Arab, Chinese, and Indian students attending UK universities, we identify eight factors that influence international student decisions to study in the UK (social safety, education quality, entry obstacles, environment, recommendations, knowledge of host country, work and immigration, and meeting new cultures). The results address gaps in the literature, offering new insights that will help practitioners and academics to better understand how international students select a country and university as a study location.     

Divergence in Variety Seeking: An Exploratory Study Among International Travelers in Asia

ABSTRACT

Variety seeking is a tendency in consumer behavior in which the consumer alternates between different makes of the same item in the quest for diversity. Variety seeking and exploratory behaviors help explain tourists’ consumption behavior and choice-making methods. Some studies have focused on the choice of food, restaurants, theme parks, travel activities, or destinations, but only a few have taken place within an international context. In this study, the influence of variety seeking and exploratory buying on travelers’ consumption behavior within an international context is analyzed. In essence, Asian travelers are compared with Western travelers. Several factors, which help explain divergence in variety seeking, are included in the analysis. The results demonstrate that variety seeking and an exploratory tendency have a significant relationship with travelers’ consumption behavior (for both Asian and Western travelers). In general, customers who have a high tendency for variety seeking are less loyal; however, there is no discernible difference between Asian and Western tourists in this regard.     

Information Sensitivity Typology: Mapping the Degree and Type of Risk Consumers Perceive in Personal Data Sharing

Surveys show significant public concern regarding information privacy. To better understand how consumer concerns vary by type of personal data, the authors created a typology of information types based on perceived associated risks. In a national consumer survey, 52 information types were analyzed along four perceived risk categories (physical, psychological, monetary, and social), consumers' overall sensitivity regarding the information, and their willingness to provide it. This resulted in six highly distinctive clusters—Basic Demographics, Personal Preferences, Contact Information, Community Interaction, Financial Information, and Secure Identifiers—organized around similarities in perceived risk profile. Additionally, consumer segmentation analysis shows rank order of cluster risk perceptions to be stable, even when perceived magnitude and overall risk propensities change by segment. This research advances the conversation from an outdated PII/non‐PII framework to a more meaningful, consumer‐based understanding of the perceived risks associated with different types of personal information.     

文化旅游真实性感知对旅游者忠诚的影响机制研究——基于旅游者幸福感的中介效应

以往研究在文化旅游真实性感知对旅游者忠诚的影响问题上,得出了不同的结论,在存在主义真实性对旅游者忠诚的影响上存在较大分歧,内在机制尚不清晰。文章以幸福感的两个维度——享乐幸福感和实现幸福感为中介,研究文化旅游真实性感知的两种类型——客体相关真实性和存在主义真实性对旅游者忠诚的影响机制。研究结果表明,客体相关真实性对旅游者忠诚的影响被享乐幸福感和实现幸福感部分中介;存在主义真实性对旅游者忠诚的影响被享乐幸福感和实现幸福感完全中介。文章以幸福感为中介,丰富了文化旅游真实性感知对旅游者忠诚的影响机制研究,同时从享乐幸福感和实现幸福感入手,扩展了旅游者幸福感研究方向,为旅游目的地忠诚研究提供了新的视角。     

Towards a code of conduct for the tourism industry: An ethics model

There are four areas of concern in the ethical pursuit of tourism. Too often, tourism development is planned without consideration of the local environment's or community's needs and characteristics. An ethical treatment of the environment and community should involve consideration and participation in the planning and decision-making process, as well as implementing effective guidelines to assure fairness in employing both traditional and non-traditional employees. Finally, the industry must pay special attention to the target market: tourists. Dinah Payne is an Associate Professor of Management at the University of New Orleans. Her teaching and research interests include business ethics, the legal environment of business, international business and international management. She has published articles in the Journal of Business Ethics,the Labor Law Journal,the Journal of Managerial Issuesand Management Accounting.She is the current Vice President/Program Chair of the Southern Academy of Legal Studies in Business. Frédéric Dimanche is an Assistant Professor of the School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism at the University of New Orleans. His teaching and research interests include tourist behavior and tourism marketing. He has published articles in the Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing,the Journal of Leisure Research,and Leisure Sciences.He is the President of the Travel and Tourism Research Association, South Central Chapter.     

Elaboration of marketing communication through visual media: An empirical analysis

Visual media plays a significant role in the marketing and promotion of several international tourism services in today's connected marketplace, in particular here, international tertiary education. This study was developed to examine how visual media influence potential audiences' perception towards a specific educational tourism destination through the theoretical framework of Elaboration Likelihood Model (Petty and Cacioppo, 1986). Researchers compare central and peripheral routes of individual persuasion via visual media and this aids marketers' understanding of how visual media impact consumers' purchase decisions. This study confirms a positive relationship between argument quality, audience engagement, source credibility, audience involvement and international students as tourists' perceived destination image. The findings suggest that peripheral routes of persuasion have stronger effects on individual adoption of information than central routes of persuasion. The study provides useful insight for tertiary education agents who promote international studies, destination marketers, and other users of visual media communicators.