Dark tourism through the lens of attachment theory and domestic tourists

This study explores the factors that affect domestic tourist attachment to dark tourism destinations by developing a hybrid model using several methods, including structural equation modeling (SEM) and fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP), predicated on attachment theory. The study collected data from 60 tourism experts and 622 domestic tourists. The study found that tourist motivation, national identity, tourism impacts, and destination attachment are all crucial factors that explain domestic tourist behavior towards dark tourism. The results of the mediation analysis indicate that destination attachment mediates the relationship between tourist motivation, national identity, and negative tourism impact with tourist satisfaction. The FAHP results show that place identity has the highest influence while place dependence has the lowest influence in shaping domestic tourists' selection of dark tourist destinations. The study's findings provide valuable insights for tour operators and destination managers to meet domestic tourists' expectations of dark tourism, adding to the existing knowledge related to the factors that impact dark tourism.     

Towards a new approach of destination loyalty drivers: satisfaction,visit intensity and tourist motivations

This study explores the linear and non-linear effects of previous experiences in a tourist destination (satisfaction and visit intensity) on the intention to return and to make a positive recommendation to others. We also consider the external drivers or the appeal of the destination as well as individuals' internal drivers as moderating factors in intensity–loyalty and satisfaction–loyalty relations. The analysis conducted on a sample of 687 tourists in a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Spain supports a non-linear effect of satisfaction on the intention to return. Moreover, time intense and expenditure intense visits positively impact the intention to return when the motivation for the trip is internal, yet have a negative effect if tourist motives are external.     

Beyond the journey: the lasting impact of culinary tourism activities

In general, food tourism research has focused on tourist behaviour prior to or during trips, as well as food tourism development and marketing from a destination perspective. This exploratory study investigates food tourism from a broader context to determine if food tourism activities may impact attitudes and future behaviours. Data from a nine-country survey indicate that food activities likely impact trip satisfaction and influence intention to return and likelihood to recommend a destination. Food experiences are connected with memory, and these food experiences and souvenirs may influence destination image and lead to future purchases. Suggestions are provided for further research.     

Islamic tourism: an empirical examination of travel motivation and satisfaction in Malaysia

The objectives of this study are to test the relationship between tourism motivations and tourist satisfaction, and to test how ‘Religion’ moderates the relationship. The variable ‘Religion’ is represented by the availability of Islamic norms and practices relevant to tourism at the destination. The results of the partial least square indicate that tourism motivations are significantly and positively related to tourist satisfaction. The results also showed that Religion significantly moderates the relationship between pull motivation and tourist satisfaction. However, the moderating effect of Religion on the relationship between push motivation and tourist satisfaction was not supported.     

Is social class still working? Revisiting the social class division in tourist consumption

The effects of social class division have been extensively examined in tourist behaviour studies, but mostly on specific tourism forms, attractions, or activities. Limited empirical research has looked into the effects of social class difference (as well as other demographic variables) on tourists' destination consumption in a holistic and comprehensive way. To revisit the role of social class in today's tourist consumption, this study stratified a group of American tourists based on their social class and compared their participation patterns in four types of destination activities: cultural, hedonic, nature-based, and shopping-related. The empirical data were from a conversion and destination branding study conducted for Thoroughbred Country, South Carolina. The analysis gained mixed results, as social class was found to have significant impacts on tourists' consumption of certain destination products/activities, but not on others. It was expected that this study could not only contribute to the research endeavours in tourist consuming behaviour, but also provide practical implications for more effective destination marketing and market segmentation strategies.     

Wine Tourism in Spain: Denomination of Origin Effects on Brand Equity

This research focuses on the analysis of wine tourism in four Spanish regions. Specifically, its main purpose is the development of a model to study the influence of the denomination of origin brand image, as a regional brand, and destination image on wine tourism destination brand equity. Due to the importance of destination marketing strategies, this study has been carried out from the wine industry's perspective. The conclusions obtained are applicable to the tourist sector and, particularly, to those wineries that wish to start a new line of business: wine tourism. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An exploration of the effects of past experience and tourist involvement on destination loyalty formation

Gaining the loyalty of visitors is one of the main challenges of destinations. Previous studies generally agree that satisfaction is the key driver of tourist loyalty. However, it is necessary to conduct a more thorough study of destination loyalty formation by exploring the role of other variables as direct antecedents of loyalty and as moderators of the satisfaction–loyalty relationship. With this in mind, this study examines the influences of two variables that are especially relevant in the study of consumer behaviour in tourism: past experience and involvement. The results obtained from a sample of 807 tourists visiting a destination in Spain suggest that (1) satisfaction and past experience have a significant influence on loyalty; (2) it is necessary to separately consider the two dimensions of loyalty (i.e. the intention to return to a destination and the intention to recommend it) to understand loyalty formation; and (3) past experience is a quasi-moderator variable as it directly influences tourist loyalty and moderates the satisfaction–loyalty relationship. The findings of this research may help managers make decisions about market segmentation and guide the marketing efforts to gain loyal tourists.     

The influence of tourists' emotional experiences on destination loyalty from the perspective of community economy

Community research has been a significant topic in various fields over time. This study (a) constructs a structural equation model for hypothetical community relationships between six factors: tourist interaction, positive emotional experience, general emotional experience, tourists' subjective well-being, tourist satisfaction, and tourist destination loyalty, and (b) examines the impact of tourists' emotional experiences on their destination loyalty by taking community members as the main survey objects. The results show that tourist emotional experiences have a positive impact on tourists' loyalty. Finally, taking Guilin's evolution into a world-class tourism city as an example, we propose suggestions on the development of community tourism.     

Assessing mainland Chinese tourists' satisfaction with Hong Kong using tourist satisfaction index

The purpose of this study is to test a two‐step tourist satisfaction index framework empirically. The first step estimates sectoral‐level satisfaction indexes based on a structural equation model, and the second obtains an overall tourist satisfaction index by conducting second‐order confirmatory factor analysis. This study is a pilot test of the theoretical framework based on three tourism‐related service sectors in Hong Kong. The results indicate that mainland Chinese tourists are most satisfied with the hotel sector in Hong Kong, followed by the retail sector, and least satisfied with local tour operators. The aggregate tourist satisfaction index is 74.04 out of 100. The results of this study have important practical implications for long‐term destination management. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effects of travel activities and seasons on expenditure

The primary objective of this research was to improve the understanding of the relationships among travel activities, seasons and expenditure after controlling for income. Path analysis was used to test all hypothesised causal relationships. In addition to its conceptual contributions, the findings of the study revealed how international travellers spend during travel in response to changes in activity preferences and season of travel. To maximise travellers' expenditure and to generate greater tourism revenues, destination policy‐makers and marketers need to identify what types of activities and which season contribute most to their destination. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Trip Cultural Activities and Tourism Expenditure in Emerging Urban‐cultural Destinations

Although tourism expenditure is determined by different factors, the literature has not analysed the extent to which trip cultural activities affect tourism expenditure in the destination. The focus of this paper is a microeconomic analysis performed in 14 emerging urban‐cultural destinations in Andalusia (Spain). The results confirm that there are activities related to cultural visits, attendance at events or gastronomic activities that determine tourism expenditure. These results guide the implementation of specific actions by the policy‐makers in these destinations aimed at increasing the economic impact of tourism, based on the creation of high value‐added tourism products to overcome their mere dependence on built heritage. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The moderating role of past experience in the formation of a tourist destination's image and in tourists’ behavioural intentions

The aim of this work is to understand the moderating effects of tourists’ prior experiences of a given destination on the process of image formation (in both its cognitive and affective dimensions) for that destination and on the influence that the image – together with the tourist's satisfaction – has on their loyalty-driven behaviours as expressed in the intention to recommend. To achieve this aim, a sample of 512 tourists was used and a multi-group analysis performed, distinguishing between first-time and repeat visitors. The findings reveal that experience has a moderating effect on the formation of the cognitive image and on the influence of the tourist's satisfaction on the overall image of the tourist destination. These findings have significant management implications in the context of helping to create and appropriately manage the image of a tourist destination.     

A multilevel analysis on the determinants of household tourism expenditure

Previous studies on household tourism expenditure determinants focused mainly on the effects of family characteristics on tourism spending behaviour. However, possible influence of regional characteristics on tourism expenditure and hierarchical data structure in their analyses were overlooked. This study is the first to apply a multilevel analysis to investigate the determinants of household tourism expenditure. The analytical results indicate that household head age, household income, car ownership and Internet usage positively influence tourism expenditures. Home loan and health and insurance expenditures negatively impact tourism expenditures. Regional factors, such as average household income and industry structure, have direct and moderating effects on tourism expenditure.     

Guided Tour Influence on Cruise Tourist Experience in a Port of Call: An eWOM and Questionnaire‐Based Approach

The study aims at exploring the importance of guided tours in cruise tourists experience while visiting a port of call and analyzing qualitative (electronic word of mouth from Tripadvisor) and quantitative (personal interviews with tourists) data. The results obtained from the electronic word of mouth analysis suggest that taking a guided tour is a highly satisfactory and sentimentally positive experience for the cruise tourist. Moreover, the empirical findings revealed that taking a guided tour has a moderating effect on (1) the interaction between destination image–satisfaction, (2) the satisfaction–loyalty causal relationship and (3) the destination image formation process regarding the infrastructure and atmosphere, and tourism resources image dimensions. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cultural comparison of tourists' safety perception in relation to trip satisfaction

Although safety and security are seen as a priori for a prosperous tourism industry in any destination, safety and security perception and its influence on tourist behaviour have received limited empirical attention from researchers. This study investigated tourists' perception of the safety and security of a destination in relation to the level of satisfaction with their trip, using Turkey and its visitors as a case in point. The stepwise regression analysis was employed to investigate the relationship between trip satisfaction, safety and security‐related variables, existence of product or service failure, and selected demographic variables. Results showed that positive perception of Turkey's hygiene and health, and safety and security helped visitors to have greater trip satisfaction, especially if they stayed longer and enjoyed their trip without any product or service failure; however, German tourists and tourists with a secondary school degree are more likely to have less trip satisfaction. Practical implications and future research suggestions are discussed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Groomed spaces on Jeju Island: A typology of photographic representations for tourism

Jeju Island is a major domestic tourism destination in South Korea and is an increasingly significant international tourism destination, especially for the Japanese and Chinese markets. The Jeju provincial government strongly supports the tourism industry and has, along with the Korean central government, invested heavily in the construction of tourism infrastructure and tourism promotion. There is an abundance of printed literature available to tourists, in the form of brochures and guidebooks, during their stay in Jeju Island. In this study, the types of photographic representations found in that media is identified using a previously developed typology of four ‘spaces’ and four ‘subjects’. Content analysis of a proportional sample of 4115 pages in 225 tourist guidebooks and brochures determined the frequencies of certain ‘types’ of photographs. Further interpretive analysis probes the intentions behind the imagery, if any exist, towards the representational construction of this island's destination image as it appears to the tourist reader. Theoretical issues related to destination image and its representations are explored in light of the findings and implications for tourism policy and management are discussed. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An Analysis of Tourism Trends in Mauritius 1979 to 1998

A longitudinal analysis of tourism trends in Mauritius is conducted using published statistics and reports compiled by the Government of Mauritius. A number of trend indicators and ratios are derived and plotted as time series data from 1979 to 1998. Interesting trends emerge that may be of value to other Indian Ocean Island tourism agencies and analysts. The ratios calculated are as follows: number of nights spent per tourist, discounted earnings per tourist, discounted earnings per night, contribution to GDP per tourism earnings, discounted contribution to GDP per tourist, percentage of nights spent in hotels, nights spent per tourist in hotels and nights spent per tourist in informal accommodation, average expenditure per tourist accommodated in hotels and average expenditure per tourist accommodated in informal accommodation (private bungalows, boarding/guest houses and homes of friends/relatives).

The main findings are that the continued success of tourism in Mauritius rests significantly on tourists accommodated in the informal accommodation sector and that tourist spending in real terms in Mauritius has declined from 1990 to 1997.     

Searching for a lost aura: a Naxi Dongba’s spatial practices and space remaking in touristic commoditization

This paper explores how space remaking of tourist destinations erases aura of place. Two questions are discussed: (1) where does the aura of a tourism destination originate and (2) why/how is the aura of a tourism destination erased. Ethnographic research was conducted in 2011, 2012, and 2016, in Lijiang, Yunnan Province, focusing on the life story of He Zhenwei, a Naxi Dongba, and the spatial practices of his daily life in his workplace, home, and town. It indicates that more attention is paid to representations of space than to the aura of place in the space-making of tourist destinations. I argue that this kind of space-making tends towards the disjunction of the inherent systems of symbols of physical space, resulting in the loss of the aura of place. The most innovative aspect, in which I draw on Lefebvre’s space theory and Goffman’s theatrical stage, is the juxtaposition of ritual space, life space, and staged space, which elucidates the correlation between meaning-remaking of tourist destinations and the aura of indigenous cultures. The commoditization of heritage tourism is subject to the pursuit of the ‘Other image’ of culture as well as landscaping of place which gradually leads to the annihilation of aura.     

Progress in tourism and destination wellbeing research

A proliferation of research in recent years has revealed a myriad of relationships between tourism and the concept of wellbeing. These include health benefits of visiting tourist destinations, a product focus on wellness and maintaining good health. Broader interpretations emphasize the complex ways in which tourism can influence the emotional, psychological, cognitive and spiritual dimensions of wellbeing, both for tourists and for destination communities. This study reflects an emerging paradigm shift that incorporates a deeper appreciation of the benefits derived at the destination level from a focus on health and wellbeing. The study highlights three key perspectives, namely the tourist, the destination community and the destination itself. The study concludes that research in this area is critical to the future development, management and marketing of sustainable and competitive destinations with the wellbeing of tourists, their destination host communities, and the overall destination experience, critical to their ultimate success.     

Islamic Attributes of Destination: Construct Development and Measurement Validation,and Their Impact on Tourist Satisfaction

The objectives of the paper are to first develop a measurement scale for Islamic attributes of destination and then to investigate the influence of Islamic attributes on overall tourist satisfaction. This study followed the sequence of steps that should be performed in developing measures of constructs. The measurement was tested and found to be both reliable and valid. The study found positive relationship between Islamic attributes of destination and overall tourist satisfaction. Important marketing implications are also presented. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.