Understanding Supplier-Selection Criteria: Meeting Planners' Approaches to Selecting and Maintaining Suppliers

Few attempts have been made to explain the change in perspectives in regard to meeting planners' supplier-selection criteria in relation to initial supplier selection versus meeting planner-supplier relationships. This article aims to examine the perspective differences using 15 modified supplier-selection criteria in an exploratory manner. Results of this study indicate that meeting planners' perspectives on the same decision factors can change in terms of selecting and deciding upon long-term relationships. The key findings would lead to managerial implications for sales personnel of both Meetings, Incentives, Conventions, and Exhibitions (MICE) industry suppliers and local convention and visitor bureaus (CVBs).     

Association Meeting Planners' Perceptions of Five Major Convention Cities

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to report the pre-test results of a questionnaire designed to examine association meeting planners' site selection criteria and performance of five major convention cities. Pre-testing is necessary to ensure face (content) validity of the instrument by assessing the meaning of questions (ambiguity and bias), continuity and flow, question sequence, scale variability, and length and timing. The findings from the pre-test provided significant feedback for content validity of selection criteria used in the study, measurement and scaling, and flow of the questionnaire. The implications were discussed.     

Meeting Planners' Use of the Internet to Plan Group Meetings

Abstract

Despite the fact that hospitality web sites are proliferating and opportunities to complete sales transactions via the Internet increase daily, no research exists on meeting planners' use of the Internet to plan group meetings. Guided by Hoffman and Novak's (1994) Model of Planned Behavior this study focused on determining what variables are related to a meeting planners' intent to use and current use of the Internet to plan group meetings. Three hundred sixty-two planners of the Chicago Chapter of Meeting Professionals International were surveyed via a faxed instrument. Planners' attitudes, beliefs about norms, and perceived behavioral control were found to be significantly related to their usage of the Internet. Additionally, results confirmed that meeting planners view the Internet as having positive qualities and benefits in planning group meetings and that it is a cost effective planning tool.     

A comparison of planners' site-selection intentions towards a sustainability reward program,location, and overall costs

Previous research indicates that environmental attitudes do not always translate into environmentally sustainable behavioral intention. The current research uses sustainability reward programs as incentives for people to have environmentally friendly behavioral intentions. Specifically, this study investigates how sustainability reward program affect meeting planners' site-selection intention in comparison with other factors such as location and overall costs. While the results of the study discover that the effect of sustainability reward programs was not significant for planners' site-selection intention, considerable differences were found on the effects of other factors between different types of planners. The findings provide important theoretical and practical implications.     

The Role of Local and Regional Food in Destination Marketing

Summary

An analysis of the relevant tourism literature and the promotional material of various destinations indicate that the role of food in the marketing of destinations has until recently received very little attention globally and locally. All indications, however, are that local food holds much potential to enhance sustainability in tourism; contribute to the authenticity of the destination; strengthen the local economy; and provide for the environmentally friendly infrastructure. This paper will highlight the key findings of the preliminary study regarding the utilization of food as a key or supportive attraction by destination-marketing organizations in South Africa. Guidelines for the future development, packaging and marketing of local and regional foods will be postulated and proposals for future research will be outlined.     

An Exploratory Study of the Level of Disaster Preparedness in the Canadian Hospitality Industry

Disaster planning is an important, but often neglected, part of leading an organization. Currently there exists little data on the level of disaster preparedness of organizations in the Canadian hospitality industry. In this article we present the results of a survey of a representative sample of organizations in this industry to assess the level of disaster preparedness. Results reveal an overall low level of preparedness. Implications of these results are discussed and recommendations for research and practice are suggested.     

Important Elements of Hotel-Meeting Planner Contracts: An Exploratory Study

Contracts between meeting planners and hotels are getting longer and more complex to protect the interests of both parties. Unlike many other industries, there is no standard contract for use between meeting planners and hotels. This study was undertaken to try to ascertain (a) what elements the literature suggests should be contained in all contracts between meeting planners and hotels, and (b) what actually appears in real life contracts. The result was development of a 9-item checklist and comparison of real contracts with this list. It was found that although the bids were for an identical event there was significant variation in the elements included in the contracts as well as the operationalization of each element. However, this study found that none of the hotels in this sample included all nine elements in their contract, which provides educators and practitioners with the opportunity to provide assistance to hotel managers. Additional discussion addresses the accepted practices exchange (APEX) development of recommendations for contract clauses. Thus, the results of the extant study make a contribution to the discipline and are of interest to academics and practitioners alike.     

Analysis of Time Pressure and Value Perception: An Exploratory Study of Consumer Travel Fair

The consumer travel fair is a well-known vacation marketing event in Singapore. Travel product/package promotions at the Singapore travel fair are only available for 3 days. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between time pressure and consumer value of travel fair products through their perceptions of scarcity, price, and quality. These constructs were examined using two types of mediation models. A random sample survey of 251 travel fair visitors were collected to verify the conceptual model proposed to integrate these constructs. The study found the mediated relationship between time pressure and consumer value was significant. Additionally, the signs for the total indirect effects were consistent with the proposed mediation models. The results are important from managerial and personal selling perspectives.     

Food and the Perception of Eating: The Case of Young Taiwanese Consumers

This study explores the food perception of young Taiwanese consumers, a growing market segment in the restaurant industry. An innovative qualitative tool known as the Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique (ZMET) was employed to elicit deeper thoughts and emotions of young consumers. Twelve Taiwanese from Generation Y were invited to participate in a ZMET interview where they expressed their perceptions concerning food and eating through self-collected images. The data were analyzed using constant comparative method and charted on a consensus map. Five themes have evolved from the consensus map: health, trying new food, sharing, enhancing knowledge, and happiness. Findings reveal that young Taiwanese consumers are health-conscious and have high acceptance of novel food. They perceive food as a means of enjoyment and fostering social relationships. This study has contributed additional perspectives to existing literature by revealing the function of food in enhancing knowledge, as well as unveiling the deep-seated meanings of food associated with consumer's personal relevance values. Marketing implications for the restaurant industry targeting young Taiwanese consumers are proposed.     

Towards Understanding User Perceptions of a Tourist-based Environmental Monitoring System: An Exploratory Case Study

This paper examines user perceptions of a tourist-based environmental monitoring system which supports park visitor engagement with the environmental monitoring of specific sites within two National and one Regional Park in Victoria, Australia. The system allows park visitors (tourists) to actively participate in the care and management of the park by voluntarily contributing to web-based photographic records. The primary objective of this exploratory case study research is to identify who the tourist users are, their perceptions of the system, their motivation for using it, and the benefits that they perceive are derived from using the system. The study found that respondents indicated a strong concern for the environment and appreciated the simplicity of the system and the on-going connection it provides to the park-management process. Importantly, respondents found the system to be a valuable source of engagement with the environmental monitoring and management process.     

An Empirical Study of Behavioral Intentions in the Food Festival: The Case of Macau

The behavioral intentions of visitors play an important role in predicting future profits in the food festival. The purpose of this study is to identify the dimensions of festival quality and examine the interrelationships between behavioral intentions and the other constructs related to behavioral intentions as perceived by visitors to the food festival using structural equation modeling (SEM). The dimensions of festival quality are built and a multi-dimensional and hierarchical model is used as a framework to synthesize the effects of festival quality and visitor satisfaction on behavioral intentions of visitors to the Macau Food Festival (MFF). The findings of this study are based on SEM analysis of a convenience sample of 428 respondents. The findings reveal that there are four primary dimensions and 11 sub-dimensions of festival quality in the MFF.     

An Exploratory Examination of Service Quality Attributes in the Ecotourism Industry

This study explores service quality attributes of ecolodges in Australia. In-depth interviews were used to develop service quality dimensions that ecotourists believe to be of importance when visiting ecolodges. The performance-based measure of service quality (SERVPERF) was adapted as a generic measure of service quality in order to investigate whether the SERVPERF instrument is applicable to the ecolodge industry. Findings indicate that three additional dimensions are specific to the ecolodge sector: eco-friendly practices, eco-activities, and eco-learning. The findings are significant in assessing guests’ perceptions of service quality in the ecotourism area and can serve as a framework for further empirical research.     

The Role of Food Tourism in Sustaining Regional Identity: A Case Study of Cornwall,South West England

This exploratory paper examines the role of food tourism in developing and sustaining regional identities within the context of rural regeneration, agricultural diversification and the creation of closer relationships between production and consumption in the countryside. It focuses on Cornwall, South West England, an area with rural development issues, increasing tourism impacts and contested issues of regional identity. A literature and policy analysis, and in-depth interviews with 12 restaurateurs, were undertaken in four popular tourist locations. Correlation was found between increased levels of food tourism interest and the retention and development of regional identity, the enhancement of environmental awareness and sustainability, an increase in social and cultural benefits celebrating the production of local food and the conservation of traditional heritage, skills and ways of life. The paper draws attention to three issues: the role of food tourism in increasing tourist spending, the potential role of food tourism in extending the tourist season, and the re-examination of food tourist typologies within a sustainability framework.     

Investigating the Sustainability of Cruise Tourism: A Case Study of Key West

This qualitative research examines cruise ship tourism through a case study of Key West, Florida, exploring its perceived benefits and drawbacks. It outlines the growth of the industry, the issues raised by that growth, and uses the land-use tourism model developed by Vera Rebollo and Ivars Baidal (2003) Vera Rebollo, J. F. and Ivars Baidal, J. A. 2003. Measuring sustainability in a mass tourist destination: Pressures, perceptions and policy responses in Torrevieja, Spain. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 11: 181–203. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar] to probe those issues. The results illustrate how mature cruise tourism destinations such as Key West fear continued growth and loss of sustainability, but have mixed emotions about future quantitative and qualitative growth.     

试析旅游规划中的客源市场分析

客源市场分析应当成为旅游规划的首要因素.现有旅游规划质量不高的主要原因在于客源市场分析不深入、旅游消费行为研究欠深化、市场预测与客源目标市场定位不准确.只有强化旅游规划中的客源市场分析,加强旅游规划人才的培养与培育才是制作高质量旅游规划的根本途径.     

旅游发展规划评审指标体系构建与实证研究——以陕西省秦岭旅游发展专项规划为例

旅游发展规划评审是赋予旅游发展规划权威性和合法化的核心环节,目前,我国旅游发展规划评审主要以定性为主,且存在＂走形式＂不规范现象。文章从旅游发展规划评审规范性、科学性、可行性和创新性4个层面构建了25个指标的评价体系,并以陕西省秦岭旅游发展专项规划为例进行了实证研究。研究发现：①旅游发展规划评审系统由旅游发展规划编制主体系统、规划对象系统和管理系统3部分构成,旅游发展规划评审利益相关者分为核心利益相关者和边缘利益相关者。②可行性指标权重最大,处于核心地位;科学性指标权重次之,成为评审工作重点审查对象;创新性指标权重居第三,规划内容和技术创新受到关注;规范性指标权重最小,与规划形式和内容体系发展密切相关。③旅游发展规划评审应增加旅游发展成果论证环节,实行定性、定量和定级相结合的评审方式,开发旅游发展规划评审管理系统。     

An Exploratory Study of Convention Specific Social Media Usage by Attendees: Motivations and Effect of Generations on Choice of Convention Information Source and Intention to Use Mobile Application

While social media and mobile devices have grown as important tools of communication and marketing in the meeting industry, limited research has explored convention attendees’ perception of convention specific social networking media and what the motivations are for attendees’ adoption of using convention specific social media. This study aims to identify convention attendees’ motivations of using convention specific social media and demands of convention specific mobile applications. This study also investigated how attendees’ generation affects their selection of convention information sources and attitude toward mobile applications. Based on the identified key motivations of using convention specific social media, convention organizers need to build social media that provide up-to-dated convention information as well as a functionality of building community among attendees. The findings also show that generation affects the choice of convention information source and intention of mobile applications usage. This study identified the most demanded convention mobile applications including, exhibitor directory search, convention floor plan, and convention itinerary planner. This study can be used as a basis for more extensive examinations of the use of social media in conventions and for empirical testing of convention attendees’ attitudes toward convention social media and mobile applications.     

Perceptions of the Spa Industry: An Importance Performance Analysis

This article examines factors influencing the behavior of foreign customers who use spa services in Koh Samui, Thailand. Specifically, it considers the relationship between customer expectations and the fulfillment of those expectations within two foreign visitor target groups—holiday-takers and business people—as a way to gauge the performance of spas on Koh Samui. Results support the contention that the spa industry on the island needs to improve in a number of ways and stakeholders tasked with developing the industry are well-advised to consider the expectations of both groups rather than treating the two as homogenous.     

An application of stakeholder theory to advance community participation in tourism planning: the case for engaging immigrants as fringe stakeholders

Community participation has long been viewed as an important tenet of tourism planning, and there is general consensus among researchers that engaging all stakeholder groups contributes to tourism sustainability. However, there are gaps in the literature, and challenges in practice, that call for further research. Among these are the dynamics of heterogeneous community groups and that not all community subgroups have equal opportunity to participate in tourism planning. This paper attempts to advance community participation by drawing on progressive approaches to stakeholder theory in the management field and by exploring, for the first time, the engagement of immigrants in tourism planning as fringe stakeholders, representative of present and future community dynamics. Bringing first generation immigrants as an important but less studied segment within the broader host community into focus moves tourism planning toward a more inclusive approach to community engagement, reflecting increased diversity and change in host communities.     

An Exploratory Study of the Complexities of Coping Behavior in Adirondack Wilderness

Recreation researchers have considered coping behaviors one possible explanation for wilderness recreationists' high overall satisfaction levels despite reports of visitor over-crowding and other social conditions exceeding acceptable levels. Studies of recreationists' use of behavioral coping and cognitive coping mechanisms have had mixed results. This study used field-based interviews and surveys to identify coping behavior by hikers in the wilderness areas of New York's Adirondack Park. Findings indicate that wilderness hikers develop complex and variable strategies of coping behavior to maintain multiple satisfactions.