Are Chinese nationals’ attitudes to wildlife tourist attractions different from those of other nationalities?

Many wildlife tourist attractions (WTAs) have negative impacts on animal welfare and species conservation. In the absence of regulation, raising standards requires tourists to create market pressure by choosing to attend WTAs with benefits for wildlife. We surveyed respondents from five countries – China, Australia, Canada, UK, and USA – to quantify how attitudes to captive animals, and towards WTAs’ outputs and standards, may vary with nationality. Our aim was to provide a firm basis for behaviour change interventions to alter current patterns of tourist consumption of WTAs. All respondents agreed on the importance of conservation and animal welfare, but Chinese respondents were twice as likely to believe that WTAs would not be allowed to exist if they were bad for animals, and that WTAs’ promotional materials were reliable indicators of welfare and conservation standards. These findings indicate Chinese respondents had fundamentally similar attitudes to those from the other countries, but differed in how those attitudes were likely to be applied. Chinese tourists may experience more barriers to aligning their actions with their values with respect to WTAs. Removing these barriers may require information campaigns to highlight the lack of regulation, and the unreliability of some WTAs’ promotional materials and tourists’ reviews.     

Ludic and liminoid aspects of charter yacht tourism in the Caribbean

The behavior of charter yacht tourists in the British Virgin Islands can be viewed as a symbolic expression and an inversion of the central sexual and social ideologies of the tourists' home culture. The paper analyses the behavior as a form of play, following Huizinga and Norbeck, and in terms of liminality and communitas, following Victor Turner. The conspicuously “anti-structural” mores and behavior allow the tourists licensed suspension of everyday rules, while reinforcing the latter. The tourists' image of the Caribbean as a sensual playground and the hosts' image of the tourists as self-centered and frivolous are established and perpetuated in this liminoid context.     

Perception of tourism development and subjective happiness of residents in Mashhad,Iran

Tourism development affects various aspects of a populace’s life, such as environmental, social, economic, and other areas. This study examines the effect of perceived tourism development on subjective happiness and quality of life among residents of Mashhad City, Iran. A sample size of 384 residents completed a survey. Data analysis was performed using WarpPLS. Results indicated that tourism development had an effect on the residents’ subjective happiness and quality of life (QOL) and the effects of social and micro economic factors on the residents’ subjective happiness and the effects of cultural, environmental, and macroeconomic factors on the resident’s QOL.     

Expectations of Working Relationships in International Buyer–Seller Relationships: Development of a Relationship Continuum Scale

This study is an attempt to develop a scale to measure expectations of buyer–seller working relationships on a cross-cultural basis in the hospitality industry. The focus is on North American and Asian hotel salespeople. The scale development drew from previous research in guanxi relationships, purchasing, and selling strategies. While the results did not support a reliable unidimensional scale that could distinguish between transactional and collaborative working relationships, the methodology did create a framework for further scale development.     

Charleston's newfound “entertainment zone”: should we be concerned?

This CIT Research Letter addresses issues related to the night-time economy and the rapid proliferation of bars along a section of a tourism oriented city's main street. Merely 10 years ago, locals did not frequent the area, it was of no interest to tourists, and it was regarded as a neighbourhood where one would not want to walk, especially at night. However, with the area's transformation to the nightlife centre of the city, issues have arisen that are of concern to city government officials. This paper considers these concerns.     

Determinants of systematic volatility of corporate bonds

This paper examines the association between betas of corporate bonds and their duration, coupon, maturity, agency rating, and other attributes. The data consist of monthly returns of 386 bonds, from January 1973 to June 1976. Betas are generated with the S&P 500 Index, a corporate bond index, and a U.S. bond index. The chief conclusions are the following: 1) Systematic volatility and its determinants differ according to the index; 2) betas formed with an equity or corporate bond index are negatively related to rating; and 3) duration is superior to coupon and term in explaining beta.     

A Proposed Arbitration Mechanism to Ensure Free Trade in Livestock Products

Trade negotiations between Canada and the United States are to begin in the near future. For there to be an ongoing free movement of commodities the question of nontariff barriers must be addressed in the negotiations. Livestock commodities are particularly prone to nontariff barriers due to the public health aspects of domestic regulations and the perishability of the products. Potential nontariff barriers in livestock and meat products are identified and the problems of normal negotiation procedures outlined. A proposal for an arbitration mechanism for the settlement of disputes is developed. It's essential elements are pre-approval of changes to regulations, extremely short arbitration periods and decentralized adjudication.
Les négociations de commerce entre le Canada et les États-Unis commenceront bientôt. Pour avoir un mouvement continuel des denrées, la question des barrières nontarifaires doit être adressée dans les négotiations. Les denrées bestiaux sont particulièrement portées aux barrières nontarifaires à cause des aspects de la santé publique dans les régulations domestiques et la nature périssable des produits. On identifie les barrières nontarifaires potentielles en des produits bestiaux et de viande. On indique aussi les problèmes avec les processus de négotiation normale. Une proposition pour un mécanisme d'arbitrage pour la résolution des disputes est developpée. Les elements essentiels de cette proposition sont l'approbation en avance des changements aux régulations, les périodes d'arbitration très courtes et les prononcements de jugements décentralisés.     

The fundamentals of land prices and urban growth

In a very simple model in which capital is durable and landowners have perfect foresight, the price of urban land has four additive components: the value of agricultural land rent, the cost of conversion, the value of accessibility, and the value of expected future rent increases, a growth premium. In rapidly growing cities, the growth premium may easily account for half of the average price of land and may create a large gap between the price of land at the boundary (minus conversion cost) and the value of agricultural land rent.