Bundling attractions for rural tourism development

Tourism is often regarded as a viable solution to economic crisis, especially for remote areas without many development options. While many tourism destinations have strong cultural or heritage assets, not all destinations have primary attractions that can bring visitors to the region. Rather than developing special interest “themes”, rural areas that do not have enough of any one type of tourism resource to act as a primary draw may consider bundling different attraction types to increase visitation. The purpose of this study is to investigate the preferences of visitors to secondary heritage sites and explore the relationship between heritage tourism and alternative, non-heritage activities in rural areas. Findings revealed that motivation to visit small-scale heritage sites consisted of two dimensions: learning and recreation. The two motivational dimensions influenced visitors’ interest in different heritage attractions and likelihood of visiting heritage tourism “scenarios”. As for alternative activities, there was a cluster of “popular” activities that were enjoyed by both learning-oriented and recreation-oriented respondents, but recreation-oriented visitors were more interested in nature-based activities and sport-related activities than learning-oriented visitors. Findings can help rural communities improve secondary attractions and diversify their tourism product by bundling heritage attractions with non-heritage activities.     

Industrial railway heritage trains: the evolution of a heritage tourism genre and its attributes

Heritage tourism forms a specific genre within the wider field of tourism; however, this genre itself encompasses a wide range of different types of heritage attractions, of which industrial attractions, military attractions, stately homes and attractions associated with historic people are all examples. This paper discusses the evolution of industrial railway heritage attractions from their original railway operations to visitor attractions; second, it examines the key attributes defining successful industrial railway heritage attractions; and third, it compares and contrasts these attributes for three industrial railway heritage attractions, spanning three separate locations and two countries (Australia and Malaysia). The findings from the study identify and support ranges of success factors and suggest a framework for examining the genre of industrial railway heritage attractions and their attributes. This framework can direct future studies that investigate the nature of industrial railway heritage trains, and contribute to enriching understanding and knowledge of this genre of attractions.     

The impact of tourism on the physical environment

Cohen Erik “The Impact of Tourism on the Physical Environment”, Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. V, No. 2, April/June 1978, pp. 215–237. While moderate and well-distributed tourism may help to upkeep attractions and preserve the environment, tourism as a mass industry poses new environmental risks. This paper is a first attempt to assess systematically the environmental impact of tourism and to spell out the principal factors on which this impact depends: the intensity of tourist site-use, the resiliency of the eco-system, the time perspective of the developers and the transformational character of touristic developments. The environmental dynamics of the tourist ecological sub-system are shown to consist of a constant expansion at the margins and intensification at the mature core, leading to the creation of “contrived” attractions both at the core (as “natural” attractions decline) and the margins (to supplement meager “natural” attractions as tourism expands into less attractive regions). Two major types of measures for environmental protection are discussed: those protecting the environment for tourism and those protecting it from tourism. The need for the second type of measures is emphasized, particularly in developing countries, which face greater environmental risks from tourism than the developed ones.     

Tourism in South America

Summary

This article introduces a collection of eight revised papers that focus on the connection between slavery and tourism. After tracing the history of the former from its origins to the present day, and after providing some examples of related attractions, it confronts a number of dilemmas associated with their juxtaposition. A brief overview of the contributions to the volume is supplied, along with some epistemological and methodological concerns that they raise. Slavery tourism is finally contextualized within a framework of thanatourism, dark tourism and dissonant heritage, a field which in turn poses several questions for further research into this new and exciting phenomenon.     

The Effect of Length of Stay on Travelers' Perceived Satisfaction with Service Quality

SUMMARY

Consumer satisfaction related to service quality during the vacation experience is of paramount importance to the travel and tourism industry. This study tests empirically the effects the number of nights spent on a vacation have on the levels of satisfaction recent travelers report for three service aspects of the travel destination: perceived satisfaction with tourism service providers; perceived “freedom from defects” of tourism services; and perceived reasonableness of the cost of tourism services. Differentiation in satisfaction scores between “short-term visitors” (i.e., those who stayed from one to six nights) and “long-term visitors” (i.e., those who stayed seven or more nights) were examined. Significant differences between the two groups of visitors were present for (1) perceived satisfaction with industry professionals delivering the service experience at the travel destination, (2) perceived satisfaction with “freedom from defects” of the actual services at the destination, and (3) perceived reasonableness of the cost of services at the travel destination. Suggestions for how tourism industry professionals can make use of this information are presented.     

Beyond Sun,Sand and Sea: The Emergent Tourism Programme in the Turks and Caicos Islands

Mass tourism began in the Caribbean in the 1960s with the advent of low cost air travel. Jamaica, Barbados, and the Bahamas were among the first places to develop a resort-based tourism programme. Within 20 years, these locations began to experience the problems that are now typically associated with unplanned growth. For emergent tourist destinations, these older islands can serve as a model of what not to do. One location that has taken some lessons to heart is the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) in the lower Bahamian archipelago. While TCI offers itself as a sun, sand and sea destination, tourism officials seek to attract upscale visitors with a long term investment in the islands. The problem they are wrestling with is how to develop an island image based not only on the sea-based amenities but also the local history, natural attractions and expressive culture. In response, a diverse heritage group has begun a dialogue about how to do this. This paper describes the current state of tourism in the TCI within the context of new directions in Caribbean tourism.     

Bleisure: motivations and typologies

ABSTRACT

The theme of motivation in travel and tourism research has been largely dominated by a leisure focus and has consequently failed to reflect the changing landscape of business travel. This paper focuses on exploring the motivations of different types of “bleisure travelers”: individuals who combine leisure with professional business obligations when abroad. We employ a multi-disciplinary mixed-methods approach, using photo-elicitation to identify and describe five types of bleisure. As existing theories of tourist motivations have mainly been developed in a leisure context, they fail to fully capture the nuanced scope and subtle context of business and leisure motives. We therefore draw upon experiential learning, boundary-less career theory, expectancy theory, and social capital theory in order to put forward contemporary insights on the nexus between business and leisure tourism.     

Using an intersectionality perspective to uncover older Chinese female's perceived travel constraints and negotiation strategies

This study employed an intersectionality perspective to examine older Chinese female's perceived constraints to pleasure travel and how they negotiated through constraints while accounting for multiple intersected identities of age (older), gender (females), and race (Asian-Chinese). Results showed that eight types of constraints impact their travel behavior: “limited knowledge of tourism,” “health and safety concerns,” “culture shock,” “lack of travel partners,” “low quality service facilities,” “limited availability of information,” “negative reputation of tour guide,” and “few employer-paid vacations.” Study participants also discussed how they negotiated through constraints using strategies, i.e., “word-of-mouth advertising,” “group travel with friends,” “donkey travel,” “finding partners through square dancing,” “children's support,” and “being motivated to taste organic foods and breath fresh air.” The findings provided a glimpse into potential modifications to constraint theory and revealed how tourism marketers can target and serve older female tourists in China by providing opportunities for them to negotiate through constraints.     

Identifying ecological sustainability assessment factors for ecotourism and trophy hunting operations on private rangeland in Namibia

This paper reports on long-term research conducted in Lombok, Indonesia into the social and socio-economic outcomes of tourism development within a heterogeneous community of migrant settlers and native residents. It explores the outcomes of international development agency work in the area. It explains how while most of the case study's tourism attractions are part of the indigenous heritage of the wetu telu Sasak, they derive few economic benefits from that heritage. Local women in particular struggle to access the new development opportunities that tourism offers. Benefits tend to flow to incoming migrant groups and to men. The prevailing conditions of culture, education, ethnicity, gender, politics, history, location, mobility, socio-economy, tourism skills and knowledge constitute key barriers. Further constraints, often overlooked, result from an “institutional culture” within aid projects that promotes business ahead of social development.     

Grounded Theory of Leisure Travel

Abstract

This article reviews grounded theory studies available in the literature that deepen understanding of leisure travel decisions and tourism behaviors. The article includes a set of core propositions that are examined empirically. The reported study includes applying the “long interview method” and “theoretical sampling” in completing personal, face-to-face, interviews of travel parties at the moment of just ending their visits to a Canadian Province. The empirical analysis focuses on acquiring process data held in the minds of customers-that is, the analysis illustrates emic-based storytelling of what was planned and what actually happened that led to what specific outcomes. Achieving such holistic, case-based views of leisure travel decisions and tourism behavior provides a rich, deep and nuanced-filled understanding of the causes and consequences of such behaviors.     

Nature tourism trends in Australia with reference to the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area

Nature-based tourism has been viewed as a large and growing segment of the tourism market. Advocates of nature-based tourism argue its potential to generate income for biodiversity conservation and local economic benefit, while detractors fear a risk of “loving our parks to death”. Some recent studies have suggested that nature-based tourism may be declining on a per capita basis, especially in economically developed countries. Others have detected no such trend. Nature-based tourism is a key industry within Australia, based strongly on its unique scenery and biodiversity. We compared nature-based visitation and population growth during 1998–2012 for Australia overall and specifically for the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area which is adjacent to the country's largest conurbation of Greater Sydney. We found substantial declines in domestic per capita visitation, both nationally and regionally. Because visitation provides the “political capital” for parks to survive, strategies to encourage visitation should be a target for land managers. Since children foster environmentally responsible behaviour in adults, they should be part of the focus for developing diverse experiences that encourage park visitation.     

Motion Picture-Induced Visual,Vocal and Celebrity Effects on Tourism Motivation: Stimulus Organism Response Model

Motion pictures play a predominant role in enhancing the consumers' awareness of tourism destinations and inspiring their motivation to visit destinations. “Hallyu” (Korean Wave), a platform of Korean cultural exports, has altered the Korean tourism industry and now attracts travelers from around the world. Utilizing the popularity of the Korean Wave, the Korean Tourism Organization promotes Korean tourism attractions through motions pictures, including Korean films, television drama series, music and K-pop. The visual, vocal and celebrity effects which emanate from Korean motion pictures are expected to influence travelers' intent to visit and actual visitation. A questionnaire was distributed to Thai travelers and a total of 191 valid questionnaires were analyzed using regression analysis. The results indicate that visual and vocal effects emanating from Korean motion pictures fueled travelers' intention to visit Korea and explore Korean culture and tourism attractions. However, the results indicate no significant effect of celebrity endorsements on travelers' intentions.     

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.     

Network approach to tourist segmentation via user generated content

The study contributes to the tourism literature by demonstrating an approach to segmenting tourists using network analysis with user-generated content. Online reviews of destination attractions are considered as a proxy for visitation data reflective of tourists’ interests. The connectivity between attractions is represented with a network of links created by tourists visiting and reviewing multiple attractions. Attraction clusters are revealed by segmenting this network using network analysis tools. Two segmentation solutions are provided: a posteriori, in which only review information is taken into account, and mixed, in which tourist groups are defined a priori by their travel interests and age, and this information is combined with visitation information. The findings are validated using geovisualization and by comparing them with randomly simulated models.     

Charleston,South Carolina Tourism and the Presentation of Urban Slavery in an Historic Southern City

ABSTRACT

Heritage tourism's depiction of slavery makes for an interesting study. Several years ago, David Butler published an article in this journal that was highly critical of the depiction of slavery by Southern US plantations during tours offered to visitors, indicating that these attractions “whitewashed” this aspect of their history. The current study, intended as an extension of Butler's work, focused upon urban slavery versus plantation slavery and the handling of the issue by historic antebellum houses now opened as heritage tourist attractions in Charleston, SC. Encouragingly, it was learned that these historic homes are doing a much fairer job of exposing their guests to the issue than had been noted by Butler's plantation tours.     

Industrial heritage tourism development and city image reconstruction in Chinese traditional industrial cities: a web content analysis

ABSTRACT

Studies on industrial heritage and industrial tourism development at the city level in China are limited. Through a web content analysis of the industrial components in cities’ images and tourism, this paper attempts to explore whether old industrial cities are promoting industrial heritage tourism and rebuilding postindustrial images. A total of 20 traditionally industrial cities were selected as samples for data collection based on the content of their official websites, and this study finds that industrial heritage and industrial tourism are rarely promoted or even mentioned on those websites, indicating that industrial culture is gradually being eroded in China. Traditional Chinese industrial cities tend to look for opportunities to participate in global competition rather than reflecting and preserving their past through the process of urban development. More attention should be paid in the future to integrating industrial culture into Chinese urban development, both in academic research and in practice.     

Internet and Tourism – Part XVII: Travelmall

As the processes associated with globalisation swiftly erode distinct cultures and identities, it has been argued that heritage attractions have emerged as powerful communicators in developing collective national identities. Although many countries reveal histories and collective pasts that are universally representative of homogenous populations, Malaysia represents a distinctly contrasting scenario. Malaysian heritage attractions do not necessarily represent a singular population but three distinctive ethnic groups. Thus, selecting heritage attractions that appropriately represent Malaysia remains a complicated issue. Using photographs as “real-world” variables to supplement focus-group interviews, this article reveals that young Malaysians exhibit a limited understanding of religious heritage attractions and have developed identities that are highly specific to their ethnicity and own religious beliefs. However, the stories told by several respondents also show that Malaysia's ethnic- or religious-centred heritage attractions have the power to foster a simultaneous collective national identity if promoted effectively.     

Value orientations and heritage tourism management at Petra Archaeological Park,Jordan

Involving different stakeholders, including tourists, in managing tourism and understanding their value orientations are key concepts to achieve sustainability of heritage tourism. However, tourists have been mostly ignored in managing heritage attractions. Given the importance of values in heritage tourism management, and the different tourists' preferences toward management actions, this article aims to explore the value orientations of different types of tourists at Petra Archaeological Park, and how these values influence their management actions preferences. Majority of the tourists were preservation value oriented, and they preferred direct management actions rather than indirect actions. Results indicated that whenever the level of the importance of heritage tourism increases in tourists' trip motivations, tourists tend to be more preservation value oriented and support direct management actions.     

In Search of Competitive Advantage in Caribbean Tourism Websites

Abstract

The intense competitiveness of the global tourism industry increasingly demands the most effective possible marketing for individual destinations. The strategic management literature suggests that competitive advantage can be gained through capitalizing on a destination's unique attributes. In marketing terms, this translates as “competitive positioning.” To what extent do the individual destinations of the Caribbean seek to competitively position themselves as unique attractions among their many competitors? This paper returns to the concept of the Unique Selling Proposition (USP) as a practical and straightforward framework for analyzing distinctiveness in tourism marketing. An exploratory analysis of web-based marketing in the Caribbean suggests widespread failure of destinations to market themselves in terms of unique competitive positioning. The analysis also reveals several exemplary models of the USP concept in tourism marketing, suggesting opportunities for greater regional cooperation through stronger individual destination identities.     

Activity Segmentation of the International Heritage Tourism Market to Taiwan

The heritage tourism market has developed from being regarded as a small niche segment to a mainstream market of considerable size. In Taiwan, diversified heritage resources hold considerable appeal to the international tourism market. Little research has been completed on international heritage tourists to Taiwan, so this study utilized Taiwan as a case study and examined international tourists to the destination. It first employed cluster analysis based on activity participation to segment the market and test for the existence of “heritage tourists”. Three groups of international tourists to Taiwan were identified and they were labelled as “heritage”, “shopping” and “non-specialists”. The heritage group had a high participation rate in visiting heritage relics (90.6%). The study also profiled tourists according to the reasons they travelled to Taiwan and socio-demographic variables. The heritage tourists and other activity participation groups were compared to reveal the major motivational and socio-demographic differences involved. The findings showed that “international heritage tourists to Taiwan” were a group of visitors with relatively younger ages, middle levels of income and higher educational levels. The study defined heritage tourists who indicated visiting heritage sites as part of their reason for visiting Taiwan as “motivated heritage visitors”. Other heritage tourists who participated in heritage activities, but did not list heritage tourism as a reason for visiting Taiwan, were defined as “heritage site visitors”. Finally, the study profiled the two groups of heritage tourists and compared them, with significant differences being found in ages and nationalities.