The effects of perceived authenticity,information search behaviour,motivation and destination imagery on cultural behavioural intentions of tourists

This study tested a structural model which investigates the effects of perceived authenticity, motivation, information search behaviour and destination imagery on tourists' behavioural intentions to consume cultural attractions. Data were collected at selected cultural and natural heritage sites in the island of Mauritius (N?=?600). The sample was split into two data sets. Structural equation modelling and hierarchical multiple regression were employed to test the hypothesised relationships. Findings revealed a significant positive relationship between perceived authenticity and cultural behavioural intentions of tourists. Destination imagery had an influence on tourists' cultural intentions. Information search behaviour was found to exert a negative influence on tourists' cultural intentions while motivation did not have any influence on the latter. Perceived authenticity was seen to exert a moderating effect on the respective relationships between motivation, information search behaviour, destination imagery and cultural behavioural intentions of tourists. The theoretical and managerial implications of the study are discussed.     

The impact of destination attributes on Muslim tourist's choice

The success of marketing destinations for Muslim tourists could be guided by observing Islamic teachings in tourism activities. This study is a trial to explore which Islamic attributes of destinations could be used a base for tailoring Halal tourist packages. Qualitative data were collected by conducting two focus group discussions and fifty three interviews in Malaysia. Two major aspects are identified which may attract Muslim tourists. Some suggestions are also presented to satisfy Muslim tourists. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Differences in travel objectives between first‐time and repeat tourists: An empirical analysis for the Kansai area in Japan

This study investigates the differences in travel objectives between first‐time and repeat tourists. We conduct a questionnaire survey of travel agencies, which asked about specific tour plan for target tourists, their experiences and travel objectives in the Kansai area in Japan. We estimate a logit model for the relationship between travel objectives and visiting experiences. The results indicate that the first‐time tourists' main objective is to enjoy looking around sightseeing spots, while the repeat tourists' objective is simply to enjoy the stay, including the hotel visit and participating in events. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

‘Scary … but I like it!’ Young tourists' perceptions of fear on holiday

This paper explores young tourists' perceptions of fear on holiday. The work on which this paper is based is important because it sheds light on tourists' emotional experiences on holiday, which are central to increase our understanding of tourist behaviour. The importance of investigating perceptions of fear has been recognized within a number of different disciplines, such as psychology, sociology, criminology, and marketing. Indeed, it has been argued that fear may provide significant information concerning an individual's motivations, preferences, and patterns of behaviour. Despite this, perceptions of fear within the tourism experience have remained relatively unexplored. It is often assumed that perceptions of safety and security may influence individuals' destination choice. However, there is a paucity of studies concerning tourists' perceptions of fear during the tourism experience. This paper is based on three months of qualitative fieldwork conducted on the island of Ios, Greece in the summer of 2007. More specifically, participant observation and semi-structured interviews were methods employed for data collection to explore young tourists' perceptions of fear. The possibility to develop a rapport and build a relationship with young tourists on Ios was crucial to collect valuable information concerning tourists' background, their emotions, expectations, perceptions, and the context in which perceptions of fear were experienced and expressed. The study found that most holidaymakers on Ios participated in activities perceived as risky in order to experience fear. In this respect, young tourists deliberately sought fear and thrill to increase their levels of pleasure and enjoyment during the tourism experience. The results suggest that fear may play a positive role in the tourism experience of young tourists, which should no longer be ignored by tourism scholars.     

Extending the theory of planned behaviour: testing the effects of authentic perception and environmental concerns on the slow-tourist decision-making process

Despite the importance of slow tourism, studies on slow tourists' decision-making processes are rare. The current study extends the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) by including authentic perception (AP) and environmental concerns (ECs) to explain the formation of behavioural intentions. The study also contributes by comparing its extended model with the original TPB and identifying salient belief items through a focus group and literature review. The results of a structural equation analysis revealed that the data fitted the extended model well and that the inclusion of the critical new constructs in a slow-tourism context significantly enhanced the prediction of behaviour intentions. The results also indicated that attitude, subjective norms, perceived behaviour control, and AP significantly contributed to forming the intention to participate in slow tourism. However, the influence from ECs to behavioural intentions was demonstrated to be insignificant. This study advances our understanding of tourists' decision-making processes in that these slow tourists are more likely to choose an “authentic”, rather than “environmental”, destination.     

Is social class still working? Revisiting the social class division in tourist consumption

The effects of social class division have been extensively examined in tourist behaviour studies, but mostly on specific tourism forms, attractions, or activities. Limited empirical research has looked into the effects of social class difference (as well as other demographic variables) on tourists' destination consumption in a holistic and comprehensive way. To revisit the role of social class in today's tourist consumption, this study stratified a group of American tourists based on their social class and compared their participation patterns in four types of destination activities: cultural, hedonic, nature-based, and shopping-related. The empirical data were from a conversion and destination branding study conducted for Thoroughbred Country, South Carolina. The analysis gained mixed results, as social class was found to have significant impacts on tourists' consumption of certain destination products/activities, but not on others. It was expected that this study could not only contribute to the research endeavours in tourist consuming behaviour, but also provide practical implications for more effective destination marketing and market segmentation strategies.     

The relationship between airport image,national identity and passengers delight: A case study of the Malaysian low cost carrier terminal (LCCT)

This study examines the relationship between airport image and passengers delight in the context of a low cost carrier terminal in Malaysia. It also seeks to investigate the moderating effect of the airport's national identity on the predicted relationship between the two main constructs. The research, involving 200 passengers (foreign tourists), employed Hierarchical Moderated Regression as the main method of data analysis. The results revealed that there is a strong positive relationship between the airport image and passengers delight, and that national identity helps strengthen the relationship of the main effect.     

Investigating the Attractiveness of an Emerging Long‐Haul Destination: Implications for Loyalty

Although several studies have demonstrated a positive relationship between destination attractiveness and loyalty, most published research has focused on travellers from geographically close markets and on mature destinations. This study adopts a demand‐side perspective to investigate these concepts for an emerging long‐haul destination (South Africa). A survey was conducted among a sample of Italian tourists to explore the determinants of destination attractiveness and to investigate the effect of destination attractiveness on tourists' loyalty. Moreover, this study considers the moderating role of previous travel experience on the relationship between attractiveness and loyalty. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Tourism,Religion and Religiosity: A Holy Mess

Although religion and religiosity are well-known factors for influencing behaviour in different social settings, there is very limited research that explores the links between them and visitation patterns of tourists. In this study tourists' visitation patterns to a heritage site of religious significance (the Wailing Wall, Israel) are explored. Differences are found between tourists based on their religious affiliation and religiosity. The findings also reveal that the tourists' religiosity has different effects on those with different religious affiliations. It is argued that the actual relationships between a tourist's religion and strength of religious belief need to be understood in relation to the site visited, the tourist's perception of it and the meaning he or she attaches to it. The implications for tourism management and the theoretical investigation of heritage tourism are discussed.     

The influence of tourists' expectations on purchase intention: Linking marketing strategy for low-cost airlines

Drawing on an integrated framework of marketing strategy, this study develops and tests a novel perspective for low-cost airline tourists that explicates the critical attributes of service quality through which Corporate Reputation (CR) and Word of Mouth (WOM) are associated with purchase intention. The study also examines the buffering role of empathy in tourists' purchase decision making processes. In a sample of 535 international and domestic tourists, this study found service quality to be related to increased purchase intention by boosting tourists' positive evaluations for airlines' corporate reputations and word of mouth received from other tourists. Additionally, the results demonstrated a positive correlation quality of service and WOM, depending on tourists' levels of empathy. Specifically, they suggested that WOM was positively related to purchase intention when high levels of empathy from tourists were perceived for the low-cost airline.     

Are tourists satisfied with the map at hand?

Tourist maps of a given destination offer information to tourists on its geographical environment and tourist sites of interest. This sort of information service is important for tourists unless they are very familiar with their destinations. This study mainly concerns with tourists' satisfaction with this geographical and touristic information service which has been neglected in the existing literature. The study, using Macau as a case, was designed to explore tourists' evaluation of tourist maps and the determining factors of the overall satisfaction, which were mainly involved in the content and design of tourist maps. The control variables including demographics and trip features were also examined. It was found that respondents were, in general, satisfied with the tourist map they used for sightseeing; however, their attitudes towards various elements of map content and design differed. These attitudes reflected by the data have implications for tourist map design and distribution in the future.     

Tour guides' interpretation of the Historic Center of Macao as a World Cultural Heritage site

Literature review suggests that little attention is paid to the interpretation of a World Cultural Heritage (WCH) ensemble such as the Historic Center of Macao (HCM). The present study aims to investigate tour guides' interpretation of the HCM and how their interpretation affects tourists' appreciation and understanding of a visited heritage site within the HCM, as well as tourists' interest in other under-used HCM sites. Methodologies include in-depth interviews with tour guides, on-site observations of tour guides and surveys of package group tourists. The findings indicate that tour guides tended to interpret an HCM heritage site as an independent WCH site. In turn, this results in tourists' misunderstanding of Macao's WCH and a lower level of authentic experience at the visited heritage site. It is advocated that the interpretation of any one heritage site of the HCM should connect to the HCM ensemble and other heritage sites within the HCM. The inter-cultural relationship among the heritage sites should be further explored and highlighted in narratives.     

Experiential and involvement effects on the Korean wine tourist's decision-making process

This study's core purpose is to understand the behavioural intention (BI) of wine tourists using the Extended Model of Goal-directed Behaviour (EMGB). Specifically, the Model of Goal-directed Behaviour (MGB), an advanced version of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), is extended to EMGB by incorporating experience and involvement towards wine tourism to better understand wine tourists' intention to participate in a tour. The sample was 211 Korean wine tourists. Results revealed that two constructs related to wine tourism, namely, experience of a wine tour and wine tourism involvement, formed positive and significant relationships with attitude towards participating in such a tour. Attitude, subjective norm, and positive anticipated emotion influenced tourists' desire to participate in a wine tour, which, in turn, influenced their BI. Contrary to expectations, the frequency of past behaviour does not have a significant effect on desire and BI, and perceived behavioural control has no significant effects on BI.     

Disabled travel: not easy,but doable

Research on disabled tourists is still in its infancy and, at its present stage, the issue of accessibility in particular sets the research agenda. However, as with all tourists, disabled tourists' enactment of barriers as well as benefits pertaining to holidays depends on the individual's former experiences, travel career and engagement in other leisure activities. Accordingly, this paper accounts for the findings of a series of qualitative interviews with mobility-disabled tourists, the purpose of which was to engage disabled tourists in conversations based on their reflective enactment of their own touristic endeavour. The study revealed (1) that various associations for disabled people play crucial roles in determining both whether and how an individual takes on the role of tourist; (2) that disabled tourists especially go on vacation in order to be freed from the role of ‘objects of care’; (3) that tourism relates to the ends of overcoming self-doubt, redefining oneself and building self-confidence; and (4) that vacation decision-making is far more complex for the disabled tourist than for other tourists; albeit complexity is reduced as the disabled tourist becomes more experienced.     

Travel behaviour among inbound medical tourists in Kuala Lumpur

Despite recording the highest growth among tourism sub-sectors [Dhesi, D. (2009, March 25). Medical tourism rises in Malaysia despite economic downturn. The Star Online. Retrieved from http://www.malaysiahealthcare.com/; Leonard, T. (2009, July 24). Medical tourists to bring in RM 540 million by 2010. Retrieved from http://www.malaysiahealthcare.com/; Tourism Malaysia. (2008). Profile of tourist by selected markets 2008. Kuala Lumpur: Tourism Malaysia], little is known empirically with regard to travel behaviour among inbound medical tourists in Malaysia. This study examined the demographic profile, travel motivation, healthcare consumption, and expenditure behaviour among them in Kuala Lumpur. Using the combination of purposeful and convenience sampling, a total of 138 questionnaires were completed, returned, and analysed. The majority of the respondents were female, middle aged, travelling with two others and Indonesians. Their main travel motivation factors were ‘value for money’, ‘excellent medical services’, ‘supporting services’, ‘cultural similarity’, and ‘religious factor’ in descending order of importance. Medical treatment, cosmetic procedure, surgical procedure, and medical check-up were important healthcare services sought after by the respondents. On average, medical tourists spent MYR 26,844.19 per visit, with females and tourists of European descent contributing significantly more. Tourists from ASEAN had stronger motivation of ‘cultural similarity’ compared with other tourists. This paper is unique in providing the empirical evidence of the city's unique selling points (pull factors) in attracting inbound medical tourists. It also highlights the potential economic contribution and some managerial implications in terms of marketing and product development.     

Perception and attitude of Hong Kong hotel guest‐contact employees towards tourists from Mainland China

In recent years, the majority of arrivals to Hong Kong, which were once dominated by the Western and Japanese markets, were replaced by arrivals from Mainland China. The number of tourists from Mainland China has overtaken others to become the largest single market for the territory. With its increasing significance, providing quality service to these visitors becomes crucial to the success of the tourism industry and of the hotel industry in particular. Unfortunately, the satisfaction rating of the Mainland visitors on hotel services in Hong Kong is reported to be relatively low when compared to those given by other major markets. It is suspected that the perception and attitudes of the service staff may influence their behaviour in serving customers. As such, this study conducted a survey questionnaire with 228 guest‐contact employees of hotels in Hong Kong. Results indicate that most respondents have a fairly positive perception towards the Mainland tourists in relation to the economic and financial benefits that they bring to Hong Kong. However, a majority of the respondents express negative perception and attitudes towards these tourists in respect to their appearance, personalities and behaviour. Despite some respondents indicating that they exhibit different service behaviour towards visitors from Mainland China and other countries, no major significant differences in their perception and attitudes were found in this study. It is recommended that various types of cross‐cultural training, such as sensitivity training and role playing, would be helpful to guest‐contact employees in enhancing their ability to be more objective and more tolerant of other people's behaviour. This study concludes that hotel employees, especially those who work as front‐line staff, must remain aware of their subjective judgments when dealing with guests and be more accepting of others. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Destination food image and intention to eat destination foods: a view from Korea

Food image has begun to influence tourist behaviour, so understanding the food image of a destination is important. This study examined the relationships among destination food image, preference, and intention to eat destination foods. A total of 357 tourists in Korea participated in this study. The results of structural equation modelling confirmed empirically that image affected behavioural intention as it applied to food. Cognitive image had a stronger influence than affective image on preferences for destination foods and intention to eat destination foods. In addition, preference for destination foods predicted intention to eat destination foods. This study indicates that the cognitive image of destination foods should be identified and that image strengthened to increase tourists' intentions to eat destination foods. Marketing strategies should appeal to both authenticity and the unique cognitive image of destination foods as well as encourage tourists to experience destination foods and gain internal information.     

The effects of landscape fascination on subjective well-being and revisit intention: Evidence from agritourism destinations

This study adopted the reasonable person model (RPM) in the context of agritourism to identify tourists' preferences for features of agricultural landscapes; to examine the effects of agritourism landscape's fascination on subjective well-being and destination attachment, which in turn influence tourists' loyal behaviors; and to investigate the moderating effects of farm types. The quantitative and qualitative approaches were combined to obtain 1118 usable samples. The results validated the RPM by identifying the predictive power of landscape fascination, subjective well-being, and destination attachment on tourists' destination loyalty. Managerial implications for enhancing visitors' retentions in Taiwan were discussed.     

Analysing Chinese citizens' intentions of outbound travel: a machine learning approach

Due to the tremendous expansion of Chinese outbound travel market, it is of great significance to identify the characteristics of potential Chinese outbound tourists so as to develop targeted marketing strategies. As both extrinsic and intrinsic characteristics of individuals are important in influencing their decision-making process, this study explores potential Chinese outbound tourists from these two aspects. Demographic and psychographic factors, as the proxy of extrinsic and intrinsic characteristics, respectively, are incorporated into this study to construct the relationship between tourists' characteristics and their intentions of outbound travel. An advanced machine learning approach, called twice-learning, is employed for modelling in this study. As an intelligent data analysis tool, this method is able to construct models that can provide insight into the ground-truth relationships hidden beneath the data in an essentially comprehensible way, without being limited by the typical assumptions held by the traditional data analysis methods. By applying this method, the important personal factors that influence Chinese citizens' intentions of outbound travel are detected, and the typical groups of potential Chinese outbound tourists are characterised. The findings would be beneficial for destination marketers to develop marketing strategies on positioning and advertising which are tailored to potential Chinese outbound travel market.     

Cultural comparison of tourists' safety perception in relation to trip satisfaction

Although safety and security are seen as a priori for a prosperous tourism industry in any destination, safety and security perception and its influence on tourist behaviour have received limited empirical attention from researchers. This study investigated tourists' perception of the safety and security of a destination in relation to the level of satisfaction with their trip, using Turkey and its visitors as a case in point. The stepwise regression analysis was employed to investigate the relationship between trip satisfaction, safety and security‐related variables, existence of product or service failure, and selected demographic variables. Results showed that positive perception of Turkey's hygiene and health, and safety and security helped visitors to have greater trip satisfaction, especially if they stayed longer and enjoyed their trip without any product or service failure; however, German tourists and tourists with a secondary school degree are more likely to have less trip satisfaction. Practical implications and future research suggestions are discussed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.