A comparison of the National Geographic Stewardship Scorecard Ratings by experts and stakeholders for selected World Heritage destinations

The National Geographic Society Center for Sustainable Destinations Stewardship Scorecards for 2003 and 2006 compared ratings by “experts” for 33 World Heritage Site destinations. Nine (27.3%) improved by four or more points and six (18.2%) decreased by four or more points in the three years. In 2006, local stakeholders rated these World Heritage destinations using the same criteria as the experts. Stakeholders rated six destinations (18.2%) lower and almost half of the 33 destinations (48.8%) increased by five or more points. A moderate positive correlation was determined between the ratings of the experts and stakeholders. Comments by experts and stakeholders related to each of the scorecard criterion measures were analyzed. ANOVA and t-test were performed to examine the six stakeholder categories ratings for each of the six criteria and the results are presented. The assumptions and limitations of the survey methodology are discussed along with recommendations for improving the Destination Stewardship Scorecard Survey.     

#ILoveLondon: An exploration of the declaration of love towards a destination on Instagram

Travellers increasingly use a combination of photographs, texts and hashtags to expressing their attitude towards tourism destinations (TDs). Existing destination branding literature has not yet investigated how consumers express their love towards TDs on social media. This study addresses this knowledge gap and explores how destination brand love (DBL) is expressed on Instagram using a mixed-methods approach. Study one consists of a qualitative visual content analysis of 700 user-generated photographs; while study two adopts text analytics with a sample of 48,783 posts. The findings show Instagram users’ declaration of DBL is expressed through photographs of some destination attributes (natural & architectural, people, public transportation, food, weather), accompanied by specific positive emotions (amazement, attractiveness, pleasure, preference, enchantment, nostalgia, belongingness, intimacy). The findings also illustrate how Instagram users express their love by providing emotional support when the destination goes through a crisis and that different stakeholders co-create the emotional capital of TDs.     

Destination attractiveness and travel intention: the case of Chinese and Indian students in Queensland,Australia

Destination attractiveness is an important stream of literature. Australia has been recognized as one of the world’s most attractive destinations. This study looked into international students’ perceptions of Australia as an attractive international tourism destination as well as their travel intention. A sample of 252 Chinese and Indian international students participated in the study. Students’ perceived destination attractiveness and how it influenced their travel intention, pleasure of travel and place attachment were investigated. The study also looked into perception differences between Chinese and Indian students using t-test and hierarchical regressions.     

Critical issues affecting the service quality and professionalism of the tour guides in Hong Kong and Macau

This study examines the critical issues affecting the service quality and professionalism of the tour guiding professions in Hong Kong and Macau. In-depth interviews were conducted with industry representatives in the two regions. The issues identified are classified into six categories: unhealthy business practices of outbound travel agencies in China, immaturity of the Chinese tourism market, exploitative measures by inbound tour operators, human resource issues, role conflict, and service quality assurance mechanism. A conceptual model is proposed to explain the role conflict faced by the guiding professions. The implications of the findings and recommendations for practice and future research are discussed. Given the growing importance of the Chinese tourism market, the findings will be of significant value to Hong Kong and Macau, and to other destinations targeting the Chinese market.     

游客感知与政府宣传:资源相似型旅游目的地形象维度对比研究——以云南西双版纳州和德宏州为例

旅游形象研究对资源相似型旅游目的地发展具有现实意义。在已有研究基础上将政府宣传形象纳入资源相似型旅游目的地旅游形象研究范畴,并选取资源禀赋高度近似的西双版纳州和德宏州为案例,实现游客感知与政府宣传旅游形象对比,选择两地游客网络游记与政府宣传网络文本为研究样本,运用内容分析法和IPA模型对两地游客感知与政府宣传旅游形象进行对比研究。研究结果表明:旅游吸引物形象维度在资源相似型目的地旅游形象中具有“非敏感性”;资源相似型旅游目的地游客感知与政府宣传旅游形象呈现出“差异—趋同”特征;资源相似型旅游目的地在“认同—错位”和“差异—趋同”效应的叠加作用下,具有各自的优势旅游形象维度。     

U.S. tourist destinations: A history of desirability

This study supplies a ranking of the most desirable tourist destinations for US travelers from 1907 through 1980, as gauged from a content analysis of travel-related advertisements appearing in two national magazines; Harper's Monthly and National Geographic. The amount of advertising space that features each destination is calculated, and from these totals the rankings of desirable destinations are derived. Maps and accompanying narrative give external validity to the content analysis, while use of consistent coding forms provides reliability. Listings of frequently visited areas accompany each map and narrative, and these in turn generally agree with those developed from the advertisements.     

The classification of heritage tourists: a case of Hue City,Vietnam

Heritage, especially with World Heritage status, is increasingly becoming the main attraction of many tourist destinations. Heritage tourism is also the major tourism product in Hue city, Vietnam. Hitherto, there are almost no official statistics and research pertaining to heritage tourism as well as heritage tourists in Hue. This study aims at providing a preliminary profile of heritage tourists to Hue city and identifying different categories of heritage tourists, with a special focus on package tourists. The international heritage tourists' profile seems to be similar to official statistics of international arrivals, indicating almost no difference in socio-demographic profile between heritage tourists and general tourists in the context of Hue. Various significant differences were found between international and domestic tourists in terms of tourist characteristics, trip profile and the perception of Hue. Adopting McKercher's [(2002) Towards a classification of cultural tourists. International Journal of Tourism Research, 4, 29–38] cultural tourist classification, five categories of heritage tourists were identified, including purposeful heritage tourists, sightseeing heritage tourists, casual heritage tourists, incidental heritage tourists and serendipitous heritage tourists. Among these, sightseeing heritage tourists and purposeful heritage tourists were dominant.     

The influence of human elements in photographs on tourists' destination perceptions and intentions

Photographs with a human element are powerful in influencing viewers' perceptions and decision-making processes. However, rare quantitative evidence was detected about the best human presenting percentage and how it affects the intention. In this study, we decoded how human elements (presence or absence, low or high proportion) affect viewers' perceptions and intentions in nature/culture-based photographs. Innovatively, three deep learning models and two experiments were integrated. The results indicate that (1) in general, maintaining the proportion of human elements at less than 1% leads to the best positive perception, and (2) the viewers demonstrate different perceptions and intentions in viewing nature-based and culture-based photographs with the human element. Theoretically, we bring a new perspective and approach to understanding the marketing value of human elements in tourist-generated photographs. Practically, we provide specific and different clues in choosing photographs to promote cultural and natural destinations regarding human elements.     

Understanding Chinese vacationers’ perceived destination restorative qualities: cross-cultural validation of the perceived destination restorative qualities scale

This study aims to provide a deeper understanding of the dimensionality and consequences of existing Chinese vacationers’ perceived destination restorative qualities (PDRQs) by cross-culturally validating the PDRQ scale (PDRQS), which has been recently developed to assess individuals’ PDRQs in the American context. Using two samples of existing Chinese vacationers (sample 1: n = 230; sample 2: n = 148) who were taking a real vacation when being surveyed, and following a rigorous process of scale validation, the study confirmed that five out of the six original subscales (compatibility, extent, mentally away, physically away, and fascination) demonstrate cross-cultural reliability and validity in the Chinese context. In addition, fascination is found to be a predictor of Chinese vacationers’ experienced pleasure evaluation, and PDRQs as a whole a predictor of Chinese vacationers’ preference for a destination. Destination marketing implications are derived based on the findings.     

Authenticity and nostalgia – subjective well-being of Chinese rural-urban migrants

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the subjective well-being of Chinese rural-urban migrants by examining the effects of nostalgia and perceived authenticity in the context of rural tourism. Founded on the concepts of tourist motivation and nostalgia and drawn on selected Chinese philosophical values, this study identifies the unique Chinese philosophical value of ‘old home’ as the key factor of motivation for migrants returning to rural destinations. Rural-urban migrants deem rural regions, as well as, mentalities, cultures, and environments in general, as their cultural and spiritual hometowns. The study also reveals that migrants pursue authentic rural destinations, which would have an emotional and memorable appeal, because it stimulates their nostalgic feelings. The study proposes the necessity of investigating Chinese issues through the lens of Chinese philosophical values and invokes an age-old value to understand their perception process of authenticity: ‘one can't have fish and bear at the same time.’ Returning to rural destinations improves these tourists’ subjective well-being because they achieve an important lifetime goal based on their traditional Chinese philosophical value of ‘searching for ancestral roots.’ The study suggests that preserving rural authenticity can improve the social and cultural welfare of hosting communities and the subjective well-being of tourists.     

Segmenting foodies for a foodie destination

ABSTRACT

The consumption of food is an integral part of a tourism experience. As foodie travellers seek out unique food experiences, it is valuable for tourism destination managers to understand their preferences and behaviours. Using a 61-item foodie activity scale, 2948 surveys were analyzed to determine clusters of foodies. The findings suggest that researchers or destination managers should avoid a “one size fits all” approach in the development of foodie destinations. Giving attention to the travel preferences and types of experiences that foodie segments prefer may allow communities reap the benefits of serving as a destination for foodie travellers.     

The role of community involvement and number/type of visitors on tourism impacts: A controlled comparison of Annapurna, Nepal and Northwest Yunnan, China

Tourism development in mountain regions is reported to bring economic growth to host communities. However, the literature reveals that the economic, environmental and cultural impacts of tourism development in these regions vary greatly and that a number of critical factors may explain that variability. Therefore, the purpose of this paper was to explore the role of community involvement and number/type of visitors on tourism impacts in mountain destinations. The study followed a controlled comparison method [Eggan, F. (1954). Social anthropology and the method of controlled comparison. American Anthropologist, 56(5), 743–763] including field observations and individual and group interviews in two popular mountain destinations in Asia: Annapurna, Nepal, and Northwest Yunnan, China. The findings suggested that level of host involvement in management and number/type of tourists helped explain these destinations’ varying degrees of economic leakage, local control, and socio-economic inequity. Moreover, both destinations appeared to cope with their challenges through cooperative community efforts supported by non-governmental agencies.     

Evocation and experiential seduction: Updating choice-sets modelling

This paper operationalises discourses on affects-as-information in terms of destination imagining and choosing. Evoked sets are conceptualised not simply as destinations, but as destinations in terms of imagery, knowledge and familiarity; forming Unusual Selling Points (USPs) or their standardised equivalent, Standardised Selling Points (SSPs). USPs and SSPs are each in turn categorised threefold, as utility, experiential and symbolic selling points. Action sets are conceptualised not just as destinations but as destinations-as-propensity to visit. This conceptualisation of decision making is illustrated in terms of British consumers’ evocations of Scandinavia and their propensity to visit Scandinavian countries. One element of familiarity is found to be disproportionately important in the associations between evoked and action sets: experiential familiarity, namely seduction by experience.     

我国旅游目的地居民对旅游影响感知的实证调查与分析

本文以全国范围内的23个旅游目的地为例,通过问卷调查,获取一手数据资料,运用SPSS13.0软件进行数理统计,分析了旅游目的地居民的旅游影响感知及其差异,得出了六大旅游影响感知因子.研究结果表明:现阶段我国旅游目的地居民的正面感知普遍占主导地位;个人内在因素是导致感知差异的主要因素;旅游目的地居民大致可分为三类:具有大局观的积极支持者、矛盾的理性支持者和关注自我的积极支持者.     

Making sense of tourists' photographs using canonical variate analysis

Tourists' photographs can serve as a rich database for researchers wishing to study tourists' perceptions and attitudes towards destinations. Such data can also be useful in examining how tourists behave, where, when, with whom and why. Many researchers favour the qualitative analysis of such data, which requires the use either of relatively small numbers of photographs or a considerable expense of researcher time and effort to undertake. Much of this process is speculative, in that it involves working with variables which may or may not prove to be significant in addressing the hypotheses chosen for the research. This paper recommends the use of a preliminary phase of research in which a quantitative approach is used to reduce the number of variables needing to be coded. Canonical variate analysis is suggested as an appropriate tool for achieving this. Case study results are presented to demonstrate the utility of this approach.     

Overtourism,optimisation, and destination performance indicators: a case study of activities in Fjord Norway

Abstract

Many global tourist destinations have experienced growth in arrivals. This has triggered various conflicts in destinations and sparked debates as to how to deal with what is increasingly referred to as ‘overtourism’. Most Destination Marketing Organisations (DMOs) pursue strategies to stimulate arrivals even further. Pro-growth discourses are reinforced by lead bodies such as the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO). However, maximisation strategies based on higher numbers of tourists increasingly cause conflicts with local residents, whereas simultaneously undermining climate change mitigation pledges as negotiated in the Paris Agreement. New approaches to destination management based on optimisation are therefore warranted. Drawing on a survey of international tourists (n?=?5,249) in south-western Norway, this article discusses whether ‘activities’, i.e. the development of local, small-scale and ideally more sustainable experiences, can contribute to economic growth without necessarily increasing numbers of arrivals. Results confirm that destinations should seek to better understand their markets, including length of stay, spending, and/or activity intention, to identify profitable markets. Ultimately, such knowledge may help addressing overtourism conflicts while building tourism systems that are more economically, socially, and environmentally resilient.     

An alternative structuralist approach to the psychology of tourism marketing

The paper begins with a brief discussion of the way in which traditional psychology would approach the subject of decoding the myths and meanings which package holiday companies seek to communicate through their holiday brochures. This approach is contrasted with an analysis using semiotic techniques. The approach is essentially a cognitive one in which it is suggested that holiday companies attempt to attract holidaymakers not through the overt and superficial attributes of holiday destinations as portrayed in the brochure photographs, but by providing the reader with a range of cultural tools with which fantasy, meaning, and identity can be created and constructed. The holidaymaker becomes an active participant in the creation and maintenance of ideology and myth.     

It’s so hot: predicting climate change effects on urban tourists’ time–space experience

Abstract

Progressive changes in mean annual temperatures are arguably the strongest evidence of ongoing climate change. In destinations with a Mediterranean climate, in contrast to the colder months, during summer, rising air temperatures are believed to inhibit tourist movements and activities, and consequently affect tourists’ evaluation of and satisfaction with their experiences. To the best of our knowledge, no previous study has investigated the potential impact of climate change on tourists’ time–space activity using actual behavioural tracking-based information. Data collected via GPS technology and a post-visit survey of tourists (n = 404) visiting Lisbon during the summer were analysed via structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). The results report empirical evidence of the present impact of (summer) weather on urban tourists’ time–space activity and on their intra-destination experience evaluation. Specifically, maximum air temperature is found to have a significant negative effect on overall satisfaction, while the meteorological conditions of the entire day reveal a significant impact on tourists’ activities and movements. The results are particularly useful for the sustainable adaptive management of urban attractions and destinations that are especially vulnerable to climate change, as well as in managing its adverse impact on tourists’ experiences.     

Local opinions on trophy hunting in Kyrgyzstan

As traditional international trophy hunting destinations are becoming less accessible due to hunting restrictions and regulations, new destinations are entering the scene, such as the Republic of Kyrgyzstan, located in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan has grown to be one of the top destinations for international trophy hunting of argali Ovis ammon and ibex Capra sibirica, both of which are in danger of extinction. Empirically, the article draws on a case study from the largest region in Kyrgyzstan, At-Bashy, and 395 questionnaires with local inhabitants from 5 villages, and 1 interview with an international trophy hunting tour operator. In this article, the impacts of trophy hunting as a tourism practice in a rural context is discussed in terms of its sustainability and through the opinions of the local inhabitants. In sum, the negative impacts of trophy hunting in At-Bashy seem to overrule the positive ones, and in its current form it is not sustainable. The local inhabitants report about a decrease in argali and ibex during the last years; they receive basically no economic benefits from hunting tourism; and not surprisingly, 70% of the population rejects the further development of the industry in its current shape.     

Developing a model for sustainable smart tourism destinations: A systematic review

The main contribution of this paper was to present a new model for smart tourism destinations using the steps of grounded theory as an analytical framework. To build the model, a systematic review of articles published between 2000 and 2017 was undertaken. Strauss and Corbin's framework for grounded theory formed the basis of the review process. The first step, which was open coding, involved the collection of a group of primary concepts and the extraction of analytic categories. In axial coding, the relationship between the categories was determined. Using selective coding, all of the identified categories were integrated and built, and 6 main categories and 28 sub-categories were identified. In addition to making an important contribution to the literature regarding sustainable and smart tourism destinations, this model is likely to be of interest to policymakers to enhance their awareness of the prerequisites and strategies of developing smart tourism destination.