Curriculum assessment through a capstone course: a case study in hospitality and tourism programs

The purpose of this study was to develop a systematic process that other educational institutions and programs could follow to establish a consistent and accurate evaluation method for a capstone course. Hospitality industry professionals and hospitality management faculty were interviewed through focus-group discussions, and a post-focus-group survey was conducted to determine a weighted percentage for each of the nine determined content domains. A test blueprint for a hospitality management capstone course was developed to measure programmatic student learning outcomes based on the weighted domains determined through this study. The results provide a usable instrument for hospitality and tourism management programs to enhance their current assessment methodology.     

Egyptians’ Hotel Booking Behavior on the Internet

The expansion of booking hotel rooms online has changed the booking process in the hotel market environment. This investigation evaluates Egyptians’ attitude as an overall inclination towards booking hotel rooms online. It consists of two phases: a focus group phase and a survey phase. Initially, focus groups were formed for the purpose of identifying general perceptions of Egyptians with respect to the use of hotel booking websites. Information generated from the focus group study contributed toward questionnaire (survey) development. Results suggest that Egyptians generally show positive attitudes towards booking hotel rooms online. The implication for hotel brands is that they should focus on making the experience of online booking safer in order to convert non-bookers to bookers. This is important because the safety features of online booking (secure transactions, privacy of information, and online fraud) appear to be more important than the usability features (convenience, usefulness, ease of use, and efficiency) for nonbookers.     

Becoming a long-distance runner – deriving pleasure and contentment in times of pain and bodily distress

ABSTRACT

This paper indicates the way beginner long-distance runners learn to derive pleasure and contentment (‘runner’s high’) in times of pain and bodily distress. It is based on Becker’s theoretical framework of using marihuana (marijuana) for pleasure. Although pain resulting from long-distance running has been widely explored sociologically, little has been written regarding the process of deriving pleasure from the pain. An ethnographic research design was implemented for three years in two running teams, using a combination of participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and online running websites. Key findings illustrate three coherent stages a novice runner must experience in order to become a long-distance runner and enjoy the pain: (1) learning the proper running technique required to experience positive effects; (2) recognizing the effects of pain and their connection with running; and (3) enjoying the effects of pain caused by running. The paper highlights the way feeling high from long-distance running can be achieved through a process of socialization conveyed by the runner’s peer group. Only if novice runners are persistent and capable of interpreting their bodily sensations as a state of pleasure or relaxation will they be able to continue with distance running.     

Antecedents of augmented reality experiences: potential tourists to Shangri-La Potatso National Park,China

ABSTRACT

Smartphone technology has the potential to change the nature of a tourists’ experience in a protected area. A smartphone running an augmented reality (AR) app may contribute to the protection of national parks while enhancing a visitor’s experience. This paper examined potential visitors’ to Potatso National Park, Shangri- La, China, their preferences for seven such AR experiences and the effect of visitors’ acceptance of technology on the perceived value of visiting the park. An online questionnaire (n?=?323) identified results and provided insights for enhancement of national park experiences using AR.     

Restaurants’ healthy eating initiatives for children increase parents’ perceptions of CSR,empowerment, and visit intentions

In this study, we examine how healthy eating initiatives (i.e., providing healthful foods and nutrition information on children’s menus) affect parents’ intentions to visit restaurants. We test the mediating roles of perceived corporate social responsibility (CSR) and empowerment and examine whether mediating effects are contingent on the level of parents’ concerns about children’s eating. The results of a scenario-based experimental design show that both initiatives increase parents’ visit intentions through increased CSR perceptions. The indirect effect of nutrition information on visit intentions through perceived CSR is pronounced only among parents with moderate to high concerns about children’s eating. The provision of healthful foods has an indirect effect on parents’ visit intentions through perceived CSR, regardless of concern level. Our findings suggest that providing healthful items and nutrition information on children’s menus increases parents’ perceptions of CSR and visit intentions.     

The effects of teppanyaki restaurant stimuli on diners’ emotions and loyalty

This research examines the influence of restaurant stimuli (i.e., chefs, service staff, other customers, food quality, and atmospherics) on diners’ emotions and loyalty to teppanyaki restaurants. In teppanyaki restaurants, chefs take orders from diners, prepare food in front of diners, and serve dishes to diners. Although the importance of chefs has been acknowledged by scholars, empirical research on the influence of chefs on diners has been scarce. To augment the literature on how chefs influence diners, this research incorporates “chef’s image” into an extended Mehrabian-Russell model (M-R model) to conceptualize diner loyalty to teppanyaki restaurants. A total of 308 diners from Taiwan were recruited. After examining their completed questionnaires, this study found that chef’s image, service quality, and food quality can affect the positive and negative emotions of diners. Moreover, other diners and restaurant atmospherics affect only the negative emotions of diners. Both positive and negative emotions can affect diner loyalty to teppanyaki restaurants. In addition, the managerial implications of this study are discussed.     

The application of Aristotle’s rhetorical theory to the sharing economy: an empirical study of Airbnb

ABSTRACT

Sharing economy businesses require extensive trust-based communication between users and service providers to facilitate users’ positive persuasion processes. Based on Aristotle’s rhetorical theory, this study identifies three key persuasive cues (credibility, emotional bonding, and accommodation characteristics) and validates their roles in establishing users’ trust in an Airbnb setting. The moderating role of interactivity is further analyzed. Research findings from a survey sample of 171 Airbnb users indicate that persuasive cues are positively associated with trust in Airbnb hosts, which significantly leads to Airbnb brand trust. Interestingly, the moderating role of interactivity is only found in the relationship between emotional bonding and trust in Airbnb hosts. This study contributes to a better understanding of the factors that affect users’ trust building in the sharing economy context, and it offers guidance for platform providers to better operate their businesses by highlighting the important roles of persuasive cues and interactivity in users’ trust-building processes.     

The Influence of Reviewer Demographic Information Provision on Trust and Purchase Intent for Users of Online Websites

E-commerce websites are increasingly interested in how to effectively utilize online reviews to positively influence consumer decisions. One potential mechanism is providing socio-demographic information about reviewers along with the reviews. This study investigates how consumer decision outcome variables (e.g., perceived usefulness, trust and purchase intent) change when reviewers’ age and gender are provided and when a consumer’s and reviewer’s age/gender are same or similar. The hotel industry was utilized as the context. The results from the experiment showed that, regardless of the compatibility of the provided demographic information (reviewers’ vs. consumers’), providing reviewers’ age and gender positively impacted consumers’ perceived online trust, and about half of the participants processed and remembered the demographic information. It was additionally noted that people who could remember reviewers’ demographic information had not only more trust in the reviewer, the specific company’s website, and the specific hotel itself, but also higher intention to recommend and book the hotel.     

Children’s stories about team selection: a discourse analysis

The aim of our study was to identify and problematise messages and value principles visible in children’s stories about team selection in sport. To achieve this, we adopted a discourse analysis approach. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted with 24 children aged 10–11 years who participated in four team sports in 12 different Swedish sports clubs. Based on the children’s stories, the findings reveal two discourses of team selection: one participation/inclusion-oriented and one performance/exclusion-oriented discourse in which four different forms of team selection work. The participation/inclusion-oriented discourse constructs sport as a fun game that involves all participating children. The performance/exclusion-oriented discourse shows that coaches select the best children in the team to obtain the best chance of winning games. Some of the coaches have given conflicting messages that align with both discourses, which are revealed by both the girls’ and the boys’ voices in varying degrees. The findings also demonstrate that children’s reasons for playing sport are in harmony with the participation/inclusive-oriented discourse. This discourse represents a child’s perspective, promoting every child’s right to participate under the same conditions. However, the selection procedure in both discourses exhibits strong classification, since coaches are the ones who possess the power to select.     

旅游高等院校产学研合作教育模式的中外比较研究——以康奈尔大学酒店学院与北京联合大学旅游学院为例

本文以美国康奈尔大学酒店学院和北京联合大学旅游学院两所具有代表性的院校为例,从\"产学\"、\"产研\"、\"研学\"结合3个方面对两校的产学研合作教育模式进行分析,比较了两校在产学研合作教育方面的异同,并试图从中得到一些启示,为我国旅游高校产学研合作教育的进一步发展提供参考.     

Willing Workers on Organic Farms (WWOOF): A Neglected Aspect of Farm Tourism in New Zealand

Despite the importance of farm tourism to many rural communities in New Zealand, there has been no attention given to the contribution of the Willing Workers on Organic Farms (WWOOF) venture to farm tourism in New Zealand. While the primary objective of the venture is organic farming, the facilitation of tourism experiences on the farm remains an additional concern among WWOOF hosts. This paper is based on a postal survey of 67 WWOOF hosts located in four main regions of New Zealand's South Island. The study sought to understand the management of WWOOF farms in relation to their role in providing tourism opportunities, to determine the reasons for becoming a WWOOF host, to provide a demographic profile of hosts and evaluate the environmental values and attitudes held by hosts. The study findings highlighted that WWOOF hosting has over recent years provided an increasing contribution to farm tourism in New Zealand. The study also provided some evidence to suggest that the motivations and experiences of WWOOF hosts were notably different from that of other farm tourism hosts. In particular, environmental ethic and shared knowledge of organic practices were considered essential.     

Forms of body usage in tourists’ experiences of flamenco

This study explores the role of the human body in tourism and focuses on cultural tourists’ experiences of flamenco dance and music in Seville, Spain. It is suggested that the tourists who fully engage in flamenco activities use their bodies towards different ends. First, through disciplined practice, tourists seek to remedy a lack of self-esteem. Second, bodies are used in order to fulfill the need for self-expression and self-exploration. Third, tourists use flamenco as a means to differentiate themselves from other social groups, and bodies are used to contest established social structures. These findings point to the centrality of the body in understanding tourists’ practices and the construction of embodied identities.     

Examining the child’s impacts on single mothers’ leisure

With the majority of research on the experiences of single mothers focusing on motherhood as an inhibiting constraint to leisure, it is important to examine the ways in which motherhood might also enable the obtainment of a satisfactory leisure lifestyle. Our study employed a Foucauldian approach to understand constraints to leisure, in that we view constraints as always both inhibiting and enabling action. The purpose of this study was to explore three single mothers’ leisure experiences prior to and since becoming single mothers to identify the ways in which their child(ren) enables leisure practices as opposed to merely constraining them. The participants presented evidence of how their child(ren) altered both their priorities and their leisure preferences by providing them with opportunities to broaden their leisure experiences. Our research findings challenge dominant discourses that suggest that children can act only to inhibit leisure.     

Online Customer Experience and Its Relationship to Repurchase Intention: An Empirical Case of Online Travel Agencies in China

The study reported here examines the relationship between flow experience and repurchase intention by focusing on the joint mediating effects of loyalty. Data were taken from a survey of shopping experiences, at online travel websites, of 325 customers in China. The results show that flow experience has a significant effect on repurchase attention. Moreover, interactive speed, skill, challenge, perceived control, telepresence, perceived usefulness, and perceived ease of use are positively related to flow experience. Lastly, the findings show that loyalty, to some extent, acts as a mediator between flow experience and repurchase attention.     

基于现代教育技术的实验式旅游教学模式研究

针对我国传统教育理念与教学模式的不足,结合当前现代教育技术水平不断提高以及高校教学改革发展的实际,从旅游教育理论与教学实践出发,提出构建与现代教育技术相匹配的旅游实验式教学模式;并依据实验研究向实验教学过渡发展的理论基础;对旅游实验式教学模式进行了初步的设计与安排;最后以旅游课程教学为例,对这一教学模式进行了应用和分析。     

Evolution of indigenous tourism among the Lacandon of Chiapas: an application of Weaver’s model

ABSTRACT

In this paper, Weaver’s six-stage indigenous tourism model is applied to the Lacandon Maya (Hach Winik) of Chiapas, Mexico. Based on a comprehensive review of the anthropological and historical literature on this indigenous group, combined with longitudinal ethnographic and collaborative research performed with tourism entrepreneurs, the Lacandon tourism experience is assessed from the pre-European period until present. By analysing a case study of indigenous tourism in Mexico, a developing country in another geographical region and with a different colonial past, this work supplements Weavers’ perspective. The results show that the fourth and fifth stages of Weaver’s model coincide in this case study, while the sixth stage is still incomplete. Although the Lacandon case has its peculiarities and bearing in mind that several different factors should be considered in the Latin American context, the model proves to be an interesting tool for indigenous tourism analysis in developing countries.     

论当代旅游发展理论的构建:理念、框架与要点

随着大众旅游初级阶段的到来,我国旅游业也相应进入了国家战略体系,加上旅游教育和人才培养层次的提升,基于中国学术立场和现实诉求的理论创新已是当务之急。在分析总结旅游发展阶段特征和当代旅游发展的核心价值取向的基础上,文章提出了当代旅游发展理论的核心观点:构建以旅游法为核心的国家意志体系,以旅游经济监测与预警为中心的宏观调控体系,以游客满意为导向的微观监管体系。