Tourists and troglodytes: Negotiating for Sustainability

This paper contributes to the continuing discussion concerning the paradox that tourism destroys the object of its desire. An analysis is made of tourism relations and hospitality in a Turkish village, and it is argued that in their close interactions with tourists traveling independently of organized tour groups, local people are in a position to negotiate both their own “traditional” identity in the presence of tourists and the latter's quests and experiences in themselves. A dynamic notion of sustainability in cultural tourism is developed, by challenging the assumptions that tourist localities must remain authentically “traditional” to meet with the expectations of tourists.     

Factors affecting the willingness of tourists to visit cultural heritage sites in Jordan

This study examined the factors affecting the willingness of tourists to visit the cultural heritage sites (CHS) located in the Northern Badia of Jordan, and estimated expenditures for their visit to the CHS. A questionnaire was developed to collect demographic and economic information about tourists during their visit to Jordan. Three hundred tourists were included in the survey at nine different sites during the summer of 2010. A logistic regression model was employed in the analyses. Factors that affected tourism at CHS included: education, variety of sites, multiple destinations, cost, and reasons for the visit. These factors had a significant impact on tourists' willingness to travel to CHS in the Northern Badia. This study recommends improving CHS and working closely with local communities to expand training and funding.     

Impacts of exported Turkish soap operas and visa-free entry on inbound tourism to Turkey

We examine the main determinants of the recent boost in the number of tourist inflows to Turkey, focussing on the indirect marketing effect of the Turkish soap operas exported abroad and recent changes in the Turkish government's foreign policies. Applying a traditional tourist demand gravity model, we explore that the recent increase in the popularity of the Turkish soap operas in the Middle East and Eastern Europe has boosted the number of inbound tourists to Turkey from those countries, and as the number of hours of Turkish soap operas aired in a particular country increases, the tourist flows from that country to Turkey increase as well. We also consider the Turkish government's recent bilateral agreements with other countries to waive the visa requirements for ordinary foreign visitors, and indicate that the termination of visa requirements has increased the tourist flows from those countries to Turkey.     

Advancing Destination Competitiveness Research

Abstract

This paper presents findings of a completed research project on the competitive position of Turkey vis-à-vis five countries in the Mediterranean basin: Spain, Italy, Greece, France and Cyprus. These partner countries are self-selected by foreign tourists and service providers (hoteliers, travel agents or tour guides) as the direct competitor to Turkey. The discussion of findings is based upon the analysis of data gathered from 1,086 respondents through a six-week period in the summer of 2004. Findings obtained from the two groups were then compared to each other using t-test. Results suggest that both foreign tourists and service providers are homogeneous to suggest that Turkey is stronger on the friendliness of local people, but is weaker on the physical distance to the target markets and the effective using of methods for promotion and advertising. The detailed assessment of findings and implications is also discussed.     

Visitor perceptions of crime-safety and attitudes towards risk: The case of Table Mountain National Park,Cape Town

This paper investigates tourist perceptions of crime-safety and attitudes towards risk whilst visiting Table Mountain National Park (TMNP) in Cape Town in June and July 2008. The study examined survey data of 303 domestic and international tourists during their visit to TMNP. A linear regression analysis revealed that although visitors had concerns about their personal safety they are still likely to return to TMNP and recommend it to other people. In addition, visitor attitudes towards risk did not influence perceptions of crime-safety and its effect on their intentions to revisit or recommend TMNP. The results also show that respondent's individual characteristics such as age, nationality, and purpose of visit influenced their perceptions of crime-safety. Perceptions that TMNP is unsafe tended to increase with respondent's age. Respondents on holiday were more likely to perceive TMNP as safer than those on business or visiting friends and relatives. The study's findings add to the literature by offering more insight on tourist perceptions of crime-safety and attitudes towards risk and their impact on tourist behaviour. Various tourist-crime prevention measures to enhance visitor safety at national parks are also recommended to the tourism industry and law enforcement agencies.     

The influence of political conflicts on country image and intention to visit: A study of Israel's image

This paper analyzes the image of Israel, a country subject to continuous conflicts, and the effect of a political event on its image. A measurement model is examined before and after a specific international incident, the Mavi Marmara conflict between Turkey and Israel, in order to understand how this event influences the image that the Turks have of Israel, as well as their intention to visit the place. The results confirm that, when people have previous animosity towards a nation, the image of this country is formed mainly through its affective component and not through its cognitive one. The research concludes that a political conflict between two countries significantly damages the country image through the affective component and boosts the previously held animosity. The incident also increases the negative influence of the affective image on the overall country image and on the intention to visit the place.     

Politics and tourism interface: The Case of Cyprus

The Cyprus tourism industry has had to be sensitive to the political problems between Turkish and Greek Cypriots. Federation is considered to be a partial solution to the problems. This paper evaluates the influence of politics and nationalism on the tourism planning and development under a possible federal constitution. The views of Turkish and Greek Cypriot participants from private and public organizations are studied through semistructured interviews. The findings suggest that any future planning and development is likely to be a complex undertaking, as the two societies tend to have different sets of objectives and expectations.     

The Influence of Appearance and the Number of People Viewed on Tourists’ Preferences for Seeing Other Tourists

This study examines tourists’ attitudes towards tourist-tourist encounters. The appearance and the number of observed tourists as well as the place of residence of the observing tourists were studied. The variables of tourist appearance and the number of people at the site were manipulated electronically in a set of rainforest photographic images. The data were collected through an on-site self-administered questionnaire. The results from 409 respondents suggested that there were different encounter preferences between Japanese and Western observers with respect to both appearance and the number of people encountered. Japanese have a preference for mixing with Westerners, at least in the rainforest setting studied. Westerners do not have marked appearance-related preferences. For the number of people in the setting, Westerners are inclined to favour few or no people while Japanese prefer some people and are tolerant of larger numbers. These findings, which contradict much of the existing North American recreation based work on people in contact, were examined from a number of theoretical perspectives, including in-group and out-group analyses, and dynamic encounter norms. Some potential management implications were outlined.     

Effects of Service Fairness and Service Quality on Tourists’ Behavioral Intentions and Subjective Well-Being

This study examined the effects of service fairness and service quality on tourists’ behavioral intentions and subjective well-being (SWB) with the mediation of satisfaction. It conceptualizes SWB as a sociopsychological benefit that people receive from tourism activities in parallel with behavioral intentions to visit the destination treated as economic benefit. A self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted in Xiamen city of Fujian Province, China, and a valid sample of 541 tourists was used for data analysis. Findings show that service fairness has more of an effect on behavioral intentions and SWB than service quality; and such differentiated effects can be partly attributed to the mediating role of satisfaction between the antecedent constructs (i.e, service fairness and service quality) and consequence constructs (i.e, behavioral intentions and tourist SWB). The results suggest that tourism service providers should deliver services in a fairer way and tourist SWB should be attended to by both governments and academics.     

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.     

Exploring the discrepancies in perceived destination images from residents’ and tourists’ perspectives: a revised importance–performance analysis approach

A comprehensive and balanced understanding of both local residents’ and tourists’ perceived destination image (DI) is a pivotal step for successful tourism development. Using the revised importance–performance analysis approach, this study assesses the differences between residents’ and tourists’ perceived implicit importance and performance of DI attributes in the Liyu Lake Scenic Area in Hualien, Taiwan. A mixed methods approach was adopted. First, 30 pertinent image attributes were identified by interviewing local residents and tourists. These image attributes were subsequently used in a questionnaire survey. Results indicate that residents’ and tourists’ opinions were divided on environmental issues and purposes of visit. The most significant finding is that both the residents and tourists regarded the majority of the attributes as “possible overkill,” suggesting that destination management organization should reconsider the direction for future development and try to realize the “real needs” of the residents and tourists based on their motivations.     

Exploring place perception a photo-based analysis

This paper examines the merits of volunteer-employed photography as a technique for investigating perceptions of residents and tourists of a destination. An exploratory study was undertaken in which both groups were asked to photograph features they considered important to their personal experience of the Welsh seaside resort of Aberystwyth. Participants also completed photologs and written questionnaires, which were used to supplement a content analysis of their snapshots. This enabled various comparisons and inferences to be drawn regarding how the town is perceived as a destination and as a place to live. An unexpected finding is that residents and tourists tend to adopt similar ways of “reading” the destination.     

An exploratory inquiry into destination risk perceptions and risk reduction strategies of first time vs. repeat visitors to a highly volatile destination

The paper examines the relationships between first-time vs. repeat visitors to a highly volatile destination in terms of destination risk perceptions, risk reduction strategies and motivation for the visit. The exploratory research question centers on possible differences in tourist behavioral profiles associated with their decision to visit a foreign destination again. Set in Israel, a highly volatile tourist destination, researchers interviewed 760 international tourists using a questionnaire classifying them as either first-time or repeat visitors. Discriminant analysis revealed that first-time visitors were characterized by human-induced risk, socio-psychological risk, food safety and weather risk. In contrast, repeat visitors were associated with the destination risk factors of financial risk, service quality risk, natural disasters and car accidents. First-time vs. repeat visitors were also compared and contrasted in terms of risk reduction strategies such as consulting with people who had previously visited specific destinations and gathering information from travel agents. Differences between first-time and repeat visitors were also found regarding motivations for the visit. Similar analyses were conducted on the three sub-groups of repeat visitors, classified in terms of number of visits.     

高速公路差异化收费引导假日旅游供需平衡研究

2012年8月,国务院下发通知,首次在全国范围内重大节假日免收小型汽车高速公路通行费。免费新政下,国庆期间游客都扎堆涌向了全国各名胜古迹,高速公路拥堵不堪,超饱和的景点和拥堵的道路大大降低了游客出游幸福感。缺乏必要的流量控制措施导致国内景点冰火两重天,给旅游业的持续健康发展打上了问号。文章基于经济学中"价格歧视"策略与社会福利最大化理论,探索性提出高速公路重大节假日差异化收费用于合理引导居民出游,增进社会福利。通过对经济学理论图示法分析和建立高速公路差异化收费影响游客出行选择的数学模型,从定性和定量角度客观分析得到利用差异化收费机制和游客自我选择机制的相互作用,可将热门景点的过量游客分流到冷门景点,平衡景点之间的供给与需求,保障旅游业可持续健康发展,也能确保社会福利不致流失。     

Economic impact of sporting events

Major sporting events have their main economic impact via the direct expenditure of tourists associated with the event. Care is needed to count only that expenditure that would not have occurred in the absence of the event. This means avoiding expenditure by tourists who would have visited regardless, but who timed their visit to coincide with the event. When all such expenditure has been avoided, the net remaining expenditure can be assessed using an input-output model of the host economy. It is argued that, because of its climatic and cultural advantages, Australia may be able to capitalize on the economic benefits of tourism resulting from major sporting events.     

Tourists’ consumption and perceptions of red heritage

Although tourism suppliers project the positive changes visits wrought upon tourists, the latter do not mindlessly consume the information they receive. A research gap exists in understanding how tourists consume political heritage and read the embedded nationalistic discourses from an emic perspective. This paper adopts the framework of social situation analysis to explore how tourists consume and perceive Chinese communist heritage and how those visits can impact their attitudes towards and support for the CCP. The results suggest that tourists were driven by a variety of motives, participated in various activities, and had split opinions about the effectiveness of “red tourism” in enhancing their nationalism. Comparisons of people’s motivations and perceptions between activity-based clusters were conducted. Managerial implications are discussed.     

Commercial hospitality in tourism: A global comparison of what culturally matters

As the hospitality academy matures it has worked towards bespoke theory development. Emerging literature has attempted to quantify, and develop measurements for, the intangible and situationally variable dimensions of hospitality and/or hospitableness. This paper aims to explore whether the importance tourists place on various aspects of ‘hospitality’ differs according to their culture, using country/region of origin as a proxy. A cross-national survey was conducted across multiple destinations in the Asia-Pacific and Europe. Data captured the importance 2248 tourists placed on 12 facets of hospitality. Results indicate that tourists’ nationality influences the importance they place on all facets of the hospitality experience. The study contributes to theory by advancing our understanding of how different cultures evaluate the importance of the multiple aspects of commercial hospitality. Practically, the study challenges hospitality industry conventions, which standardize rather than personalize guest-host interactions.     

旅游目的地游客安全感的影响因素实证研究——以福建泉州为例

安全感是旅游目的地安全状况的“晴雨表”,是游客在旅游目的地的最基本需求.文章通过文献回顾、案例分析和在线网络点评数据挖掘,归纳出游客安全感的影响因素,同时通过对来泉州游客的问卷调查,采用因子分析,提取出游客安全感的5个影响公因子:治安状况、旅游环境、服务内容、地域文化和感知信息.为进一步研究游客安全感的影响因素对游客的影响程度,采用K-means均值快速聚类法,将游客划分为平衡型、谨慎型和冒险型3类;采用多元回归分析验证了游客安全感的5个公因子与安全期望的相关关系,其中,感知信息、旅游环境、治安状况、服务内容4个公因子与游客安全期望成正向影响,地域文化与游客的安全期望成负相关.     

Habits of thought and cultural tourism

The way cultural tourists think about the people they visit impacts upon their travel experiences. Cultural tourism professionals can benefit by understanding this diversity of thought. By examining four travelogs concerning Native American cultures in the 19th century, the value of new research techniques from consumer behavior which employ methods paralleling literary criticism are demonstrated and related to the empirical evidence at hand. In particular, the works of Sir Richard Burton, Francis Parkman, Washington Irving, and Louis Henry Morgan are compared and juxtaposed. It is hoped that this combining of tourism theory with mythological theory will help the field to mesh with similar developments taking place in marketing and consumer behavior.     

A typology of memorable experience at Nelson Mandela heritage sites

This study examines cultural heritage tourism by identifying and segmenting heritage site visitors according to the aspects they define as necessary for a memorable heritage site experience. The research focusses on visitors to Nelson Mandela Heritage Sites and emphasises that the links between the attributes of a site and the visitors themselves are essential to understanding tourists’ willingness to pay to visit the mentioned sites. A typology of visitors that the authors labelled ‘auxiliary experience seekers, convenience experience seekers and comprehensive experience seekers’ (ACC) was used. The results revealed comprehensive experience seekers as the most critical market segment regarding the much significantly higher amount they are willing to pay when visiting Nelson Mandela Heritage Sites. This leads to a better understanding of aspects contributing towards a memorable heritage site experience as well as to visitors’ willingness to pay for such experiences. This study also provides further insight into cultural heritage tourism in general. Moreover, such segmentation was found as a useful research tool for producing a distinct visitor profile as well as how a memorable experiencing can be generated by suggesting diversified pricing at such sites.