Measurement of Satisfaction with ICT Services Implementation and Innovation in Restaurants (Case Study: Isfahan,Iran)

Nowadays, Restaurant is one of the most important factors in the choice of holiday destinations for tourists and contributes to the development of the local economy. This research is an initial attempt to investigate consumer behavior (tourist behavior) and the attitude of restaurant managers to the application of innovation and information and communication technology (ICT) in hotel restaurants. On the basis of the results of this study it can be concluded that tourists and restaurant managers in the city of Isfahan are interested in exploiting the application of innovation and ICT in hotel restaurants.     

Possible marketing tools for heritage tourism: the potential of implementing information and communication technology

The prevalence of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has major marketing impacts on both the demand and the supply side in cultural and heritage tourism. However, while there is quite substantial research on how ICTs affect visitors and their experiences, little can be found in the literature on the supply side. The purpose of our study is to fill this gap. To do so, we executed in-depth interviews with 20 experts from cultural and heritage tourism in Germany. Through the interviews we gained evidence from the supply side on five discourses, which evolve around the issues of the shift in visitor typologies and demand, marketing benefits of digital technologies, preconditions and barriers of implementation and currently relevant technologies. All in all, the results clearly increase our understanding on what experts think on the implementation and use of ICTs in cultural and heritage tourism. Recommendations for practice regarding, for example, cooperation and professionalization and for further research conclude our analysis.     

Promoting Gondwana: presentation of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area in tourist brochures

An 800 km stretch of the Eastern coast of Australia contains some of the last remnant fragments of the sub-tropical rainforests that once covered much of the region. This natural resource – declared as World Heritage in 1986 as the Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves of Australia, but now known as the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia – serves as an important drawcard for tourist visitation to the region. Using a content analysis of 343 tourism brochures collected across one section of the Gondwana Rainforests area, this study examined the extent to which ‘rainforest’, ‘World Heritage’ and the ‘Gondwana Rainforests’ are present within text and imagery. Findings reveal a low prevalence of this ‘branding’; indeed only 3% of brochures mention ‘Gondwana’ or ‘Gondwana Rainforests’. As presentation is a key component of World Heritage-listed forests like Gondwana, the study's results reveal the importance of building awareness of the brand in the minds of users and the community.     

BOOK REVIEW

No abstract available for this article.     

也谈改善旅游市场信息不对称——兼与陈丕积同学商榷

改善旅游市场信息不对称现象 ,是规范旅游市场 ,维护良好市场秩序的保证。但在改善旅游市场信息不对称的过程中 ,政府行为应该如何界定 ,完善市场信息的主体究竟是谁 ,却是值得我们思考的问题。本文从陈丕积同学的文章入手 ,阐述了政府行为的局限性 ,以及市场自律和第三方力量在改善市场信息不对称过程中所起的作用 ,并指出只有三个空间主体共同努力 ,相互之间良性互动 ,才能最大限度地减少市场信息不对称现象所造成的危害     

Medical Tourism—Attracting Japanese Tourists For Medical Tourism Experience

This study aimed at examining the intention of Japanese tourists to travel to Korea in a medical tourism context by applying the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). A total of 237 responses were analyzed via structural equation modeling to test two dimensions of medical tourism models. A total of 14 salient belief items in the health treatment model and 16 salient belief items in the beautification model were identified. Reshaping dimensions of medical tourism and the proved applicability of the TPB extends the knowledge of medical tourism and understanding of Japanese tourists' travel intentions in a medical tourism context. The findings indicate the industry practitioners should put effort into attracting Japanese medical tourists. This research has shown that authorities should influence word-of-mouth information exchange and should seek feedback to develop marketing strategies. Publicity should be coordinated with professional bodies in the originating and destination countries. The research further indicates that regulatory and safety regulations must be in place with easy access to information.     

Sharing versus collaborative economy: how to align ICT developments and the SDGs in tourism?

Great hopes have been placed in the sharing economy to provide a new business model based on peer-to-peer (P2P) exchanges of underutilized assets. As a model, the sharing economy has been expected to make significant contributions to sustainability, providing new opportunities for entrepreneurship, more sustainable use of resources, and consumer co-operation in tight economic networks. However, in recent years, digital platforms have turned into the most important actors in the global sharing economy, turning global corporations, such as AirBnB, Booking, or TripAdvisor into intermediaries controlling and profiting from most transactions. Focused on accommodation, this paper conceptualizes the sharing economy in comparison to the wider collaborative economy, and discusses its social, economic, environmental, and political impacts in comparison to the sustainable development goals. It concludes that the sharing economy has great potential to make very significant contributions to sustainability, though the model is increasingly being replaced by the collaborative economy, which performs as an extension and acceleration of neoliberal economic practices.     

Modelling Long Distance Pleasure Travel Mode Using Perceived Modal Attributes

Modelling transport choice behaviour traditionally has been addressed using objective measures of attribute data: price, time, etc. The authors argue that actual brand attributes may not be a good casual influence on consumer choice of long distance tourism travel. Choice is more likely to be a function of brand perceptions or brand image, which in turn is a function of past experience, expectations, promotional influences, family life stage and other personal factors. The authors re-examine data gathered in 1985 on tourist travel between Perth and Sydney or Melbourne, Australia; about 2400 miles. The authors model actual behaviour in terms of market share as a function of respondents' perceptions of travel mode attributes using a customised Multinomial Logit program which develops separate explanatory models for identified market segments. Results demonstrate the improvement in predictability over non-segmented models. Implications for tourism operators in promotions, product design and market targeting are discussed.     

旅游个性化推介服务的未来发展：时空一体化

文章在问题解决策略剖析基础上,指出了旅游个性化推介服务的未来发展方向：时空一体化,并认为旅游网站、LBS网站和ESNs3种平台的整合会成为发展的突破点。以携程网、人人网、切客网等20多个代表性旅游网站、ESNs和LBS网站统计数据为基础,分析了3类平台当前的发展状态,发现3种平台具有趋向融合的发展态势,阐明了旅游个性化推介服务向时空一体方向发展的信息化基础。设计了“信息检索、个性旅行计划辅助决策、动态结伴同游、商务推介、景区导航、导游实时到岗服务、会员口碑推介、旅游预警”等8项时空一体个性化服务内容,是对旅游电子商务、旅游信息化未来发展方向的前瞻性思考。     

名实与真实:探索“真实性”议题的本土话语分析框架

随着真实性讨论在国内学术界的引入和持续升温,需要看到,真实性的设问本质上表达了西方世界关于何为真实的主导观念及权威话语。在当代旅游研究中,真实性概念被广泛用于分析从西方到非西方不同社会语境中的旅游现象,而其移用过程本身尚未得到充分反思。因此,在前现代的游向现代旅游转型的过程中,共时维度语境挪移的真实性概念仍需重返历时维度的本土观念和实践传统方能得到落实。基于对名实观历史、文化、哲学内涵的追溯辨析以及对徐霞客、李时珍身心之游的个案讨论,文章通过名实观的引入,揭示出本土之游以身正名、求实体真的实践伦理面向,首先旨在反思真实性普遍话语的理论限度并设定参照维度;进而尝试建立一种新的话语分析框架,在名-实关联的社会历史建构视野中,将真实性的一般化讨论导向真实化的过程态考察,由此检视真实性概念嵌入本土话语场和实践场的复杂动因。     

Application of Perception-Promotion Matrix Model—The Case of Kaohsiung City

While a substantial amount of destination image research has been performed, few researchers have explored image perception gaps between tourists and government promotions. This study examines the perception gap between blogs and destination marketing organizations (DMOs) promotions by introducing a four-quadrant diagnostic tool: the Perception-Promotion Matrix (PPM). This case study collected data from 168 domestic and 64 international blogs, and 70 Chinese and 36 English official Kaohsiung City promotional websites to investigate image gap. The findings revealed significant “Tourist Infrastructure” image perception gaps, both from domestic and international traveler perspectives. The PPM suggests Kaohsiung City DMOs successfully promote an image of culture by hosting events and festivals. However, analysis indicates failure on the part of these DMOs to promote an image of Kaohsiung as an Ocean capital. Recommendations resulting from this study are provided for Kaohsiung City DMO consideration.     

How smartphones enhance local tourism experiences?

This study investigates the application of smartphones in providing local tourism experiences in Isfahan, Iran. A self-administrated questionnaire, employing the theory of planned behavior was developed, and distributed among international tourists visiting Isfahan. The results showed that tourists’ attitude towards smartphones positively influences the intention to participate in local tourism experiences. Findings confirmed that tourists’ perceived behavioral control has a positive and direct influence on their travel intention, while surprisingly no association was found between tourists’ beliefs, subjective norms, and travel intention. Findings also revealed that tourists’ beliefs and subjective norms have a positive and direct influence on participation in local tourism experiences.     

Not such smart tourism? The concept of e-lienation

The concept of alienation was adapted to tourism by MacCannell who identified it as a key feature of modernity and a strong driver of tourism where tourists seek to reconnect to authentic places and selves. Meanwhile the post-modern world has witnessed a revolution in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) especially in the realm of smart tourism where its advocates talk eagerly of the internet of everything. Such a totalising prospect demands serious review and this article fills a critical gap by conceptualising the idea of e-lienation as a specific form of alienation in ICT-enabled tourism. It combines philosophic questions of meaning, sociological theory and empirical research to demonstrate the meanings of e-lienation, its dimensions, causes, consequences and strategies of resistance.     

Tourism and the Sex Trade in Kenya’s Coastal Region

Faced with economic hardships, some Kenyans have devised various ways of survival including selling sex. This paper examines the relationship between tourism and the sex trade in Kenya’s coastal region. A questionnaire survey was conducted among commercial sex workers in the region in 2002. Analyses of the survey data reveal that a linkage exists between tourism and the growth of the sex trade in the region. The paper examines the interrelations between the two activities, and gives the first detailed and systematic treatment of the subject in Kenya. A complex operational interdependence between commercial sex workers and tourism is revealed. The conclusion discusses the role of sustainable tourism concepts in any drive to reduce the harmful impacts of sex tourism in the region.