Regional airport choice: Consumer behaviour and policy implications

The analysis of origin airports in multi-airport regions has a well established tradition in transportation and regional economics. The main goal of the paper is to estimate the importance of the different attributes that determine origin airport choice. In our case we adopt a stated preference approach to study this problem and evaluate the effects of possible policy interventions. We also perform a detailed segmentation of the sample studied according to the socio-economic variables that prove statistically relevant when interacted with the attributes used to characterise airport choice. Moreover, in order to test for the presence of heterogeneity in agents’ preferences we estimate several mixed logit models with different specifications, including heteroscedasticity and error component. With respect to previous studies we develop and extend the traditional SP approach by also analysing the role and relevance of attribute cut-offs in this research field. The policy simulations produced are based on the estimation of airport-specific attributes. The study concentrates on a multi-airport region in central Italy where four competing airports are located.     

高校的激励机制研究:文化视角

高等学校是培养创新型人才和高素质人才的重要基地,大学文化是高校可持续发展的精神动力.文章首先分析了大学文化、激励机制和高校效率三者之间的关系,接着从文化及博弈角度对高校激励机制选择机理进行了深入探讨,最后构建了基于文化的高校激励系统.     

Reports of Bed Bugs on Hotel Selection: A Choice Experiment

The resurgence of bed bugs in the United States creates challenges for hotels and motels. One aspect that is especially important to hospitality are reports of bed bugs and how they affect travellers’ selection and potential damage to hotel brands. To address this issue, we conduct a choice experiment of a national sample of US travellers. We find that consumers expectedly respond negatively to reports of bed bugs, and they are sensitive to the number of reports of bed bugs. Through consumer Willingness to Pay for a hotel room, we quantify the negative impact of reports of bed bugs on the hotel industry through lost room premium. Expectedly, avoiding bed bugs is more valuable among those who worry more about bed bugs, but prior knowledge and experience have no effect. How explicitly the reports of bed bugs are disclosed to travellers affects their reaction and Willingness to Pay greatly.     

Do satisfying walking and cycling trips result in more future trips with active travel modes? An exploratory study

Previous studies have indicated that travel satisfaction - the experienced emotions during, and cognitive evaluation of, a trip - can be affected by travel mode choice and other trip characteristics. However, as satisfactory trips might improve a person's attitude towards the used mode, persons may be more likely to use that same mode for future trips of the same kind. Hence, a cyclical process between travel mode choice and travel satisfaction might occur. In this paper we begin to analyse this process—using a structural equation modelling approach on cross-sectional data—for people who engage in walking and cycling for leisure trips in the Belgian city of Ghent. The focus on walking and cycling reflects recent studies indicating that active travel is often associated with the highest levels of travel satisfaction. Results of this exploratory analysis offer tentative support for the idea of a cyclical process: the evaluation of walking and cycling trips positively affects the respondents' attitude towards the respective mode, which in turn has a positive effect on choosing that mode.     

Chinese Residents' Demand for Outbound Travel: Evidence from the Chinese Family Panel Studies

This paper investigates potential factors influencing Chinese residents' demand for outbound travel. Based on survey data from the Chinese Family Panel Studies project conducted in 2008, we utilize several discrete choice models to analyze (1) factors explaining Chinese residents' participation in outbound travel in the last five years and (2) factors explaining various types of outbound travel. We highlight the importance of age, hukou type, personal income, education level, domestic tourism participation, foreign language proficiency, life satisfaction, and Internet use to explain Chinese residents' outbound travel. We also observe regional differences and urban–rural differences by estimating the model using different sub-samples. Finally, implications are presented concerning marketing efforts in targeting potential Chinese outbound tourists.     

绿色分销商的选择研究

分销商是制造企业与客户之间的纽带,分销商的选择是企业的分销渠道设计的重要环节之一.随着可持续发展深入人心,绿色因素也会逐渐纳入分销商选择的评价因素之中.文章基于灰色系统理论,利用灰色层次关联分析建立分销商选择模型,为决策者进行绿色分销商选择提供依据.     

三类餐馆顾客体验实证研究

不同定位的餐馆带给顾客不同的体验,了解这种感知上的差异对于提高餐饮业的管理水平具有重要意义.论文调研了豪华餐馆、大众餐馆和快餐店中的顾客体验,研究证实在不同种类的餐馆,菜肴质量、服务环境和员工服务对顾客的情感体验和社会体验具有不同的影响,并且顾客在三类餐馆的就餐目的也有很大差异.     

Problem-focused or Emotion-focused: Which Coping Strategy has a Better Effect on Perceived Career Barriers and Choice Goals?

According to social cognitive career theory, barriers have an impact on an individual's career progress. Therefore, this study aims to explore the relationships between perceived career barriers (internal barriers, external barriers) and choice goals, and the moderating effect of coping strategies on the relationships. Data were collected from 309 tourism and hospitality college students in Taiwan. A structural equation modeling analysis showed that both internal and external barriers had direct negative effects on choice goals. However, internal and external barriers had a direct positive effect on coping strategies, and indirectly, through the coping strategies, had a positive effect on choice goals. Furthermore, problem-focused coping strategies could moderate the relationship between internal/external barriers and choice goals. The implications of these findings are discussed and suggestions are provided.     

Households transport-home energy conservation strategies in response to energy price policies: A stated adaptation experiment based on portfolio choices and cross effects designs

This article explores consumer investment choice in long-term energy conservation technology and assesses trade-offs in energy saving behaviour between the housing and transportation domains. The long-term energy conservation choice problem is conceptualized as a portfolio choice problem. Consequently, to measure trade-offs between investments in housing and transport options, a cross effects choice design is developed in which respondents were shown one or more alternate ways to reduce their current energy consumption: (1) investing in new technology in the house, such as solar panels; (2) exchanging the current car for a more energy efficient car; (3) buying a new energy-efficient car, such as EV or solar car; (4) moving house to reduce current travel distances. To help respondents linking these options to their current energy consumption, a new Web-based survey system (SINA) to implement and administer stated adaptation experiments was developed. The system was used to collect two sets of data. First, data about out-of-home and in-home energy consumption, together with detailed time use data, was collected. Second, using a cross effects design, respondents were asked to select a portfolio of energy-saving strategies in response to different energy pricing policy scenarios. Results reported in this paper are based on 572 respondents who completed the survey and responded to seven adaptation questions based on their current energy expenditures. A random parameters logit model is estimated to predict the probability of choosing a particular portfolio of energy-saving options. Estimation results indicate that individuals from different socio-demographic groups exhibit varied preferences. The saving option characteristics, especially cost related characteristics have significant effects on individuals' preferences. Moreover, the results also showed significant effects of choice set composition on energy saving options. Further, the energy pricing policies had showed mixed effects on individual's preferences.     

Utilizing environmental information and pricing strategies to reduce externalities of tourism: the case of invasive species in the Galapagos

The increase in demand for nature-based tourism brings economic and educational benefits but risks the introduction of invasive species. Increasing the length of tourist trips can better balance these benefits and risks by maintaining revenues while reducing the number of unique contacts with tourists. Changing the relative prices of trips can induce tourists to take longer trips. We hypothesized that providing information about the negative externalities of tourism could improve the effectiveness of such pricing strategies.

We administered one of two discrete choice surveys to tourists considering a trip to the Galapagos. One of the surveys described the Galapagos as a fragile ecosystem susceptible to invasive species; the second described it as a standard nature-based destination. For each sample, we estimated the probability of the tourist choosing a short versus long trip, given the tourist's personal information and trip options presented to him. We then simulated the demand for trips using three pricing strategies. We found that providing information on invasive species significantly increased the efficacy of strategic pricing. We propose using a two-prong approach to tourism management: educate potential tourists about the islands’ vulnerabilities, and simultaneously increase the per-day cost of short trips relative to that of longer trips.