Book reviews

Jackson, Edgar L., and Burton, Thomas L. 1990. Understanding Leisure and Recreation: Mapping the Past and Charting the Future. State College, PA: Venture Press. ISBN 0–910251–34–7. 653 pp. Hardcover, $25.56 (plus $1.50 P&H).

Barnett, Lynn A. ed. 1988. Research About Leisure: Past, Present, and Future. Champaign, IL: Sagamore Publishing. ISBN 0–915611–13–9. 232 pp. Paperbound, $19.95.     

Book reviews

There is growing evidence that young tourists at nightlife resorts have a propensity for risk-taking. Based on ethnographic fieldwork at an international nightlife resort in Bulgaria, this article examines how guides help tourists lower their inhibitions and reach states of collective effervescence. Focus is on young guides and tourists from Denmark. The article argues that the guides use four basic techniques to stir up effervescence: body techniques, speech and sound effects, crowd effects and alcohol.     

Book reviews

Louviere, Jordan. 1988. Analyzing decision making: Metric conjoint measurement. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. ISBN 080397576. 95 pp. Paper $6.95.

DiGiulio, Robert C. 1989. Beyond widowhood—from bereavement to emergence and hope. New York: The Free Press. ISBN 0–02–907882–2. 240 pp. Cloth, $19.95

Ewert, Alan W. 1989. Outdoor adventure pursuits: Foundations, models, and theories. Worthington, Ohio: Publishing Horizons, Inc. ISBN 0–942280–50–4. 234 pp. Hardcover, $20.00.     

Book reviews

Abstract

WORKING AT PLAY: A HISTORY OF VACATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES by Cindy S. Aron. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 19 Madison Avenue, New York, NY, 1999, ISBN: 0-19-505584-5, 324 pp. $35.00. Reviewed by John D. Keiser.

ECOTOURISM: AN INTRODUCTION by David A. Fennell. London: Rout-ledge, 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE UK, LSBN: 0-415-20168-3, 1999, xx + 315 pp. (tables, charts, photographs, references, bibliography, index) $75.00 (cloth), $22.99 (paper). Reviewed by William N. Chernish.     

Book reviews

Abstract

This article examines the cultural field of fitness as a network of producers, consumers, products and practices that has developed around the care of the body through physical exercise. Drawing on a thematic text analysis of US exercise manuals, the paper focuses on how the commercial fitness field naturalizes associations between physical exercise and leisure, and between leisure and self‐work. In particular, the analysis examines three themes and their relevance to our broader understanding of leisure in contemporary consumer society: the management of leisure time; the use of leisure for self‐investment strategies; and the promotion of consumption as the framework for leisure and an accompanying notion of pleasure. The fitness field casts light on how leisure more generally is constructed as a sphere of obligations to make productive use of one’s time, to improve one’s body and self, and to do so through the wares of the consumer marketplace. The cultural imaginary of leisure as a time of freedom from work and responsibility is thus recast, in an age of individualization, as a time of freedom to accomplish the work of self‐production.     

Racism in tourism reviews

Racism is increasingly recognised as a key driver of unfair inequalities in power, resources and opportunities across racial groups. A comprehensive understanding of racism is beneficial to activist groups, policymakers and governments. Traditional approaches, such as surveys and interviews, are usually time-consuming and inefficient in capturing the occurrence of large-scale racism. In this study, we utilise routinely collected data available on tourism websites to assess self-reported racism in the tourism domain. We present a data acquisition procedure that collects racism-related reviews from the Internet at the global scale and then utilise statistics and natural language processing techniques to analyse and explore racism in terms of its tendency, distribution, semantics and characteristics. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated in a case study, in which we acquire racism-related data at the global scale and validate the impact of racial discrimination on tourists’ experience.     

Bragging and humblebragging in online reviews

Tourists often brag about their exclusive vacations, preferential treatments, and extraordinary adventures on social media. However, the existing digital marketing literature offers little guidance on whether bragging is an effective communication strategy. The current research investigates the joint effect of bragging type (bragging vs. humblebragging) and reviewer expertise (low vs. high) on brand evaluation in the online review setting. The results show that when reviewer expertise is high, humblebragging leads to more favorable brand evaluation compared to bragging. However, the opposite is true when the review is posted by a non-expert. We further reveal that the impact of bragging type on brand evaluation is serially mediated through reviewer likability and benign envy. Implications for managing travel platforms are discussed.     

Smiley guests post long reviews!

The inclusion of a photo in users’ profile provides information about them and shows a higher sense of self-expression and potential engagement. On peer-to-peer rental platforms, profile images may be useful for hosts and guests to infer individual characteristics and expectations. We try to fill a gap in the literature by inferring guests’ posting behavior through their profile image. Using Airbnb data and deep learning techniques, our empirical analysis reveals that guests who upload profile images—especially profile images displaying happy emotions—are more involved in posting long reviews. As theoretical implications, these results add knowledge to the application of the Five Factor Model of Personality, deep learning, image recognition, and emotion recognition in hospitality. As managerial implications, the prediction of posting behavior through the mining of visual information can be a relevant tool in the age of big data.     

Asymmetric effects of online consumer reviews

Consumers tend to seek heuristic information cues to simplify the amount of information involved in tourist decisions. Accordingly, star ratings in online reviews are a critical heuristic element of the perceived evaluation of online consumer information. The objective of this article is to assess the effect of review ratings on usefulness and enjoyment. The empirical application is carried out on a sample of 5,090 reviews of 45 restaurants in London and New York. The results show that people perceive extreme ratings (positive or negative) as more useful and enjoyable than moderate ratings, giving rise to a U-shaped line, with asymmetric effects: the size of the effect of online reviews depends on whether they are positive or negative.     

Book Reviews

European American ethnic festivals play an important role in the maintenance of folk traditions and ethnic identity in America. Many of these festivals were established during a mid-twentieth-century period of diminishing Old World identity among second and third generation immigrants. The celebrations sought not only to revive ethnic identification by highlighting customs such as cuisine, music and dance, but also to boost the local economy by tapping into a burgeoning tourism destination market. Wilber, Nebraska, home to a large population of Czech Americans, resurrected such a festival in 1962 that had not been celebrated since 1937, and this paper explores a number of geographical, historical, cultural and political factors contributing to its initial and continued popularity as a regional ethnic festival. Also discussed are the commodified cultural items, including food, polka music, craftwork and traditional clothing that provide Czech Americans a means to engage in and maintain a satisfying level of ethnic identity without exerting significant amounts of money and time. The Czech Festival continues to benefit Wilber economically with tens of thousands of tourist visits each year, and surveys indicate that the maintenance of ethnic customs and identity in the community is increasingly becoming dependent on the festival.     

Book review

Play Behavior. By Joseph Levy. Published by John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1978. Pp. xvi‐232, $12.95

Leisure Counseling: An Aspect of Leisure Education. By Arlin Epperson, Peter Witt, and Gerald Hitzhusen, 1977. Springfield, Ill., Charles C Thomas. Pp. xiii‐377. Hardcover, $18.00

Wildlife Management and Wilderness. By Clarence Schoenfeld and John C. Hendee, Pacific Grove, The Boxwood Press, 1978, Pp. 172 $3.95     

Book Reviews

Progess in Tourism, Recreation and Hospitality Management, Volume 6. C.P. Cooper and A. Lockwood (eds). Chichester: John Wiley and Sons, 1994. Pp. xviii+295. ISBN 0–471–94859–4 (hbk): £45.00/$72.50.     

Book Reviews

The Economic Impact of Holiday Villages: A Report for the Rural Development Commission. PA Cambridge Economic Consultants. Salisbury: Rural Development Commission, 1991. Pp. 3–35. ISBN 1-869964-19-5 (paper). Reviewed by Jonathan Murdoch

Beyond the Green Horizon: A Discussion Paper on Principles for Sustainable Tourism. Shirley Eber. UK: WWF, 1992. Pp. vi+54. ISBN 0-947613-0 (pbk): free. Reviewed by Peter Ashcroft