Social Media as a New Play in a Marketing Channel Strategy: Evidence from Taiwan Travel Agencies' Blogs

With social media playing an increasingly important role in marketing strategies for travel agencies, this study explores travel agencies that develop their own travel blogs as a marketing channel in order to differentiate their products or services and their strategic performances. The paper herein adopts a two-stage research design, with the first stage developing a three-round Delphi research. According to this research, Taiwanese travel agencies consider four external environment forces, five internal motivations for investment, four developing differentiated strategies, and four channel performance measurement indicators for managing travel agencies' own blogs as a marketing channel. The second stage explores a quantitative survey, Structural Equation Modeling, with the structural equation testing the business model of a travel blog marketing channel strategy. Finally, the findings provide innovative approaches for effectively exploiting differentiated marketing channel strategies when targeting maximum profits.     

Analysis of Blogs and Microblogs: A Case Study of Chinese Bloggers Sharing Their Hong Kong Travel Experiences

Blogs and microblogs became popular in recent years among people who would like to share their travel experiences online. This is a phenomenon which marketers are interested in but know very little about. This exploratory study analyzes blog and microblog contents created by mainland Chinese visitors sharing their Hong Kong experiences, with the objective of gaining insights into how bloggers communicate their travel experiences and how this could help market a destination. Three hundred blog posts and 300 microblog posts are analyzed. Research results indicate a generally positive image of Hong Kong as a destination among the mainland Chinese bloggers. The study also profiles the bloggers by their usage pattern and identifies opportunities for using the social media for destination marketing purpose. While the case study is about Hong Kong, the research method and blogging patterns identified would also apply in other destination situations.     

基于扎根理论的旅游幸福感构成——以互联网旅游博客文本为例

追求幸福是个体生存的根本动机,当旅游日益成为人们享受幸福生活的重要表达时,旅游研究有理由探讨旅游与幸福感的关系。以扎根理论为研究工具,以旅游博客的博主为研究对象,系统分析旅游过程中旅游者身心感受的变化。研究发现,旅游的根本动机是寻找和收获旅游幸福感。旅游者从居住地世俗生活状态进入旅游环境,通过休闲、娱乐、教育、逃避、美感和移情过程,达到消遣、逃逸、认知、审美和移情的目的;享受从生理感知、心理变化和灵性提升不同层级的生命状态,获得深刻的人生经历,再回到居住地惯常环境的历程,实现从世俗到"神圣"再归于平凡的生命状态转换。旅游前美好期待体验、旅游中福乐体验、旅游后温馨回忆体验,成为旅游幸福感的时间构成;享受闲适生活、获得旅游福乐体验、提升积极情绪、减弱不良情绪、感受人际美好,进而提升人生境界,是旅游幸福感的重要内容构成。因此,旅游服务实际上应起始于旅游行程前,绽放于旅游过程中,延伸至旅游活动后。旅游服务必须持高度的人文情怀,以发于心、形于外的贴心关照才能给予旅游者一段幸福的人生经历。     

Perceptions of Taipei as Revealed in Travel Blogs: A Tale from Two Sides

This paper analyzed 200 travel blog entries posted by 100 Mainland Chinese visitors and 100 local Taiwanese visitors to Taipei, the capital city of The Republic of China. The paper is unique in three ways. First, it provides external and internal perceptions toward a destination; secondly, it combines a Chinese coding system to segment texts and computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software to count keywords frequency; and finally, it visually presents the differences between two groups of bloggers in terms of the importance and affections visitors attached to Taipei in six image dimensions. Managerial implication is further enhanced when visitors' perception is compared with those messages promoted by destination marketing organizations. Overall, both groups of bloggers expressed more positive perceptions toward frequently mentioned image dimensions such as meals, sightseeing, and transportation. Mainland Chinese bloggers mainly saw Taipei through certain frames of reference that were manifested in promotional messages, thus creating a “circle” of representation in blogosphere.     

A Case for Wanderlust: Travel Behaviors of College Students

A case for wanderlust, or a strong desire to travel, was developed in an elaborate study involving numerous variables. Findings indicate that wanderlust begins with early, and varied, travel experiences and continues and inspires future travel behavior. Overall, college students exhibit a high level of interest in both leisure and business travel. The impact of past experience is dramatic with a strong relationship between travel experiences prior to college, while in college, and expectations after college. A financial commitment to this desire to travel was also found, particularly among females who exhibited a higher level of wanderlust for leisure travel. Overall implications for the travel and tourism industry are discussed.     

The Perceived Destination Image of Hong Kong as Revealed in the Travel Blogs of Mainland Chinese Tourists

This study investigated travel blogs as a manifestation of the travel experience, along with the destination image of Hong Kong from the perspective of tourists from mainland China. Recently published blog entries were selected and analyzed using content analysis. Empirical results indicated that the overall perceived destination image of Hong Kong was positive, with particular strengths in transportation, the harbor, and outlying islands. The major weaknesses of Hong Kong as a travel destination were the price of meals outside hotels, rooms in five-star hotels, and the quality of cosmetics and skincare products. This article has implications for policymakers and practitioners with regard to making use of travel blogs to gather authentic visitor comments on Hong Kong.     

国外美食与旅游研究述评——兼谈美食旅游概念泛化现象

饮食作为旅游体验中重要的组成部分,受到不少学者的关注,已积累了丰富的研究成果.21世纪初更是提出了以美食为核心的旅游,成为特殊兴趣旅游中的重要分支.文章对于国外美食与旅游的相关文献从“旅游中的饮食”和“美食旅游”两个方面进行了归纳和梳理.文献研究发现,作为旅游产品组成的饮食和美食旅游,这两个概念在研究过程中存在着相互替代、界限模糊的现象.而美食旅游概念泛化现象将导致研究过程中美食旅游者数量被人为放大,美食旅游对旅游目的地贡献被高估,真正的美食旅游者需求被忽视.文章提出要从美食在旅游过程中的中心性出发讨论美食旅游、美食旅游者和美食旅游者的体验.     

Effects of political instability in consolidated destinations: The case of Catalonia (Spain)

Catalonia is one of the most successful tourist regions in Spain. This article analyses the immediate impact that the instability associated to the recent political situation in Catalonia has had on the arrivals and spending of international tourists in the region using the classical Box-Jenkins method (ARIMA) and the more recent Bayesian Structural Time-Series Models. The results obtained indicate that during the final quarter of 2017, political events led to a reduction in the arrivals and spending of tourists in the region, although whether this impact reached statistical significance depends on the estimation method used.     

旅行费用区间分析法与分区旅行费用法的比较及应用

我国很少有研究注重旅行费用法(Travel Cost Method,TCM)本身的改进,只有李巍和李文军提出了旅行费用区间分析法(Travel Cost Interval Analysis,TCIA),但其合理性有待进一步探讨.因此,本文从积分的角度对TCIA与传统的分区旅行费用法(ZTCM)的数学本质进行了详细的对比分析.结果表明,TCIA体现了勒贝格(Lebesgue)积分的基本思想,与传统的反映黎曼(Riemann)积分思想的ZTCM相比具有一定的优越性;但如何突破样本空间的局限,是TCIA值得改进的一个方向.另外,本文还运用TCIA评估了武汉东湖风景区的游憩价值.     

Travel Personae of American Pleasure Travelers: A Network Analysis

Travel style has been shown to be a useful concept for understanding travelers. In this study it is argued that the portfolio of trips (specifically, the portfolio of various trip styles) one takes can be used to describe his/her overall travel persona. Network analysis was used to examine the structural relationships between types of trips based upon the assumption that each travel style may be considered as a “node,” and its association with other travel styles may be represented by the links within the network. Analyses indicate that American travelers take on a wide range of different travel personae which, in turn, are related to their choices of places visited and their response to advertising materials. It was concluded that the framework provided by these findings along with new tools on the Internet offer the potential to develop highly personalized communications with existing and potential visitors.     

基于出游半径的自驾车旅游市场特征差异分析——以苏州市为例

自驾车旅游成为休闲旅游的重要方式。自驾出游半径不同市场需求存在一定差异,根据市场需求差异开发适应市场需求的自驾车旅游产品,对自驾车旅游市场发展具有重要意义。本文通过市场抽样调查方法,分析苏州市出游半径不同的5类自驾车旅游市场特征差异。结果表明,5类自驾车旅游市场在旅游动机、信息渠道、出游方式、出游时间、停留时间和旅游消费等6个方面存在一定差异性,但差异程度不同;研究还发现,影响自驾车旅游市场发展的主要限制性因素是道路标识系统不完善、旅游服务设施建设滞后、自驾车旅游经济成本高以及驾车安全隐患等4个方面;最后针对不同类型自驾车旅游市场特征以及影响其发展的因素,提出科学合理的自驾车旅游市场开发对策。     

Exploring the Role of Travel and Tourism in Sharing Economy Activities: A Case Study of South Korea

This study explores the role of travel and tourism in sharing economy activities by using a case study of Seoul, South Korea. The findings reveal 1) significant associations between respondents’ demographic and socio-economic characteristics and their participation level in diverse sharing economy activities; 2) significant differences in future intention to participate in diverse sharing economy activities among groups; and 3) interest in travel and tourism was most strongly related to future intention to participate in diverse sharing economy activities. Policy making implications of the sharing economy focused on the role of travel and tourism are discussed in the conclusion.     

对中国旅行社业的经济分析与再定位

我国的旅行社业发育于当时特殊经济、政治环境和要求下，经历了计划经济到市场经济的转型。在这个过程中，旅行社行业出现了不少现实问题，如核心能力流失、产品单一、组织安排缺乏经济效率、规模过小、集团化虚设等问题。结合旅游经济学的理论和实践，从我国现在和今后的宏观经济走势出发，笔者探索和分析了未来我国旅行社业发展的各种趋势，主要表现在企业向产业纵深发展和产品向消费差异发展。     

A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Travel Push and Pull Factors

Abstract

Tourism marketers are confronted with the dilemma of whether standardization or the tailoring of services, products and marketing programs for specific markets is more effective and efficient. It remains to be addressed in tourism research whether travelers from varying cultural backgrounds seek different travel benefits and have different preferences for travel products and services, and to what extent they are similar in their travel behaviors. This research study used national household travel surveys conducted by the Canadian Tourism Commission and U.S. Tourism Industries for a cross-cultural comparison of two different countries, the United Kingdom (U.K.) and Japan. Results showed that travelers from these two countries had different travel motives and benefit-seeking patterns. From a marketing perspective, the branding and positioning of a destination for U.K. and Japanese long-haul travel markets will be more effective if the destination marketing organization (DMO) projects different images within its advertising campaigns. These images should reflect the different travel motivations and benefits desired by the two groups of travelers.     

A Visual Analysis of Destinations in Travel Magazines

This study presents a visual analysis of photographs of six destinations (Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, and Taiwan) published in Chinese travel magazines. The object and subject categories, size, and providers of the photographs are content analyzed. The three most popular object categories were Culture, history, and art; Leisure and recreation; and Physical environment. The dominant subject category was No people. Multiple Correspondence Analysis showed that the different destinations correlated with diverse object and subject categories. All six destinations were portrayed differently in terms of the source and size of the photographs. These findings can be utilized by destination marketing organizations (DMOs) to devise positioning and promotion activities for implementation in the Chinese market.     

Senior Pleasure Tourists: Examination of Their Demography,Travel Experience,and Travel Behavior Upon Visiting the Bangkok Metropolis

The senior travel market has become an increasingly important area of interest to travel agents. This study examines senior travellers based on their travel experience, behavior, and overall experience on visiting Thailand, in terms of their age, marital status, and education. In this study, a sample of 384 senior foreign tourists responded to a survey carried out at the Bangkok International airport. Seniors are shown not to be a uniform conservative market, which has implications for product development. Profiles differed in the priority attached to travel experience factored into health, safety, language, itineraries, and general conditions in connection with travel. Travel behavior of seniors also differs in terms of types of tour, lodging preference, outdoor activity, mode of transportation, type of information used, and people travelled with. Recommendations based on these findings have strategic implications for travel companies and travel organizers.     

Linking the Recreation Opportunity Spectrum with Travel Spending: A Spatial Analysis in West Virginia

ABSTRACT

This article presents results from a mapping and analysis of the Recreation Opportunity Spectrum (ROS) for West Virginia using the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and GeoDa. Results show visitors' travel spending is significantly related to the urban class of the ROS spectrum, although this class only accounts for 3.3% of all ROS classes. It seems that the role of the urban class in generating travel spending had become less important in 2012 compared to 2010. These findings suggest a balanced development strategy be adopted, and more efforts should be put on the conservation of rural landscapes for the promotion of authentic rural tourism in the state. Rural tourism, we argue, will be more sustainable in the long run than the gambling industry, which has been declining in recent years because of increasing competition from surrounding states.     

An Analysis of The Lowest Fares and Shortest Durations for Air-Tickets on Travel Agency Websites

Despite the existence of numerous published articles on website evaluations, the present tourism literature has no prior studies that examined the topics of lowest fares and shortest durations for air-tickets that are offered by travel websites. This study reports the findings of a study that investigated the practices of five online travel agency (OTA) websites. In terms of lowest airfares and the shortest in-flight durations (hereafter known as shortest durations) in four destinations for travelers who originated from Hong Kong, empirical findings showed the regional OTA outperformed other global leaders in airfares. Likewise, a smaller scale OTA offered lowest-fare air-tickets with the shortest durations. Practical implications are offered at the end of the article.     

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.