Examination of Taiwan's travel and tourism market cycle through a two-period Markov regime-switching model

This study analyzes the Taiwan travel and tourism (T&T) market cycle. According to data of the weighted Taiwan tourism stock index from January 1997 to August 2015, the two-period Markov regime-switching model identifies two distinct regimes of the T&T cycle and incorporates a specific set of mean and variance parameters for each period to control for the structural changes in Taiwan's T&T market. The effect of China visitor arrivals to Taiwan on the T&T market is also verified. The empirical findings offer essential information and policy implications for Taiwan's government tourism policymakers and business managers.     

Collective self-governance in a marine community: expedition cruise tourism at Svalbard

Collective self-governance is gaining attention in the literature for maintaining the quality of key attractions and promoting sustainable tourism. The long-term success of collective self-governance is dependent on both its internal organization and its embeddedness in external state and non-state regulations. This paper presents the marine community concept, consisting of a policy and a user community, as a framework for investigating the internal and external dynamics of collective self-governance and its ability to steer toward sustainable cruise tourism. As methodology, a case study design was chosen which was primarily studied by means of interviews with a spectrum of relevant actors concerning expedition cruise tourism at Svalbard. By applying the marine community to Svalbard expedition cruise tourism governance, we draw the following conclusions: (1) collective self-governance complements governmental regulation through access to knowledge, conflict resolution and rule-compliance based on disclosure, traceability and trust; (2) collective self-governance's increasing role in the policy community alienates the expedition crew from the user community; and (3) informational overflow by co-existence of collective self-governance and state-governance challenges sustainable cruise tourism. Collective self-governance would, therefore, benefit from reflection, especially regarding the role of the user community that functions as an intermediary between state and self-governance regulations.     

The antecedents of memorable tourism experiences: The development of a scale to measure the destination attributes associated with memorable experiences

Providing visitors with memorable tourism experiences (MTEs) is important for achieving success in the highly competitive tourism marketplace. To support destination managers, this paper developed a scale instrument that conceptualizes the attributes of destinations associated with MTEs. Following a rigorous scale development procedure, this study identified a 10-dimensional construct that affects MTEs. The data support this dimensional structure of the attributes of destinations affecting MTEs and the internal consistency and the validity (i.e., content, construct, convergent, and discriminant) of the scale. The theoretical and managerial implications of the study's results are discussed.     

Is the protection of beach and dune vegetation compatible with tourism?

The paradox of development vs. protection and conservation of the coasts highlights the need to determine if tourism and conservation can be compatible rather than opposite activities. We analyzed the spatial and temporal changes in vegetation cover, composition and diversity in three beaches located in the state of Veracruz (Mexico) with different levels of tourism activity (Natural, Trailer Park and Hotels). We calculated tourist density and evaluated vegetation cover, species richness and diversity and analyzed the changes before and after three holiday seasons (winter, spring and summer). The Natural site had the highest vegetation cover (42.8 m²), species richness (14) and diversity (1.50), and Trailer Park the lowest (4.9 m², 8 species, and 0.897 respectively). The BACI (Before-After-Control-Design) analysis showed no significant differences before and after the holiday seasons. Our results show how low and medium density tourism can be compatible with the protection of beach and coastal dune vegetation.     

Forays into the backstage: volunteer tourism and the pursuit of object authenticity

Volunteer tourism is a form of travel that combines traditional leisure pursuits with opportunities to volunteer in an organized fashion. The popularity of volunteer tourism stems from many factors, but the one motivation that appears in virtually every study is a desire for object authenticity, defined as the authenticity of toured objects, people, and settings. The purpose of this paper is to explore the role played by object authenticity in the motivations and experiences of volunteer tourists in the province of Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. Based on interviews with 62 volunteers and 15 directors, managers, and staff members from volunteer tourism organizations based in Chiang Mai, this paper argues that volunteer tourists conceive of object authenticity both as a package of cultural stereotypes focused on authentic people, and as authentic backstage settings where ‘real’ Thai reside. Aside from demonstrating that the desire for object authenticity is the central motivation for international volunteers in northern Thailand, this study indicates that the pursuit of object authenticity is complicated by language barriers, the potential staging of authenticity on the part of locals, and the need to balance familiarity with alterity in the carefully selected ‘voluntourscapes’ in which volunteer tourism takes place.     

Influence of interpretation on conservation intentions of whale tourists

The concept of interpretation denotes on-site education while people engage in a guided nature-based activity. The literature suggests that interpretation influences conservation intentions but does not reveal whether the effect is constituted by interpretation or by other aspects of the guided activity. This study examined the effect of interpretation on conservation intentions on top of a wildlife viewing tour without interpretation, and differentiated among interpretation contents. In a field experiment among whale watchers, four interpretation conditions were implemented: (1) no interpretation (control group), (2) knowledge content, (3) responsibility content, and (4) emotion content. Whale conservation intentions were measured before and after the whale watching experience. The results indicate that interpretation has an effect on whale conservation intentions. The effect of emotion interpretation was larger than were the effects of knowledge interpretation and responsibility interpretation. Incorporating emotional messages, then, could contribute to successful interpretation in terms of promoting conservation among tourists.     

The globalization indicators-tourism development nexus: a dynamic panel-data analysis

This study investigates how economic, social, and political globalization indicators influence tourism development. We applied different approaches of panel regression to panel data from a sample including 133 countries between 1995 and 2014. The results indicate that economic, social, and political globalization are significant factors for tourism development. Thus, this study proves that economic, social, and political integration of countries are significant driving forces behind their tourism development.     

Tourism-based heritage conservation in Murshidabad: an appraisal

The article appraises the outcome of promoting tourism as a strategy for heritage conservation in the case of Murshidabad, an archetypal historic town in decline in India. A relational maturity-based framework has been used to examine the complementarities and conflicts between tourism and heritage conservation in the town. The prevailing nature of tourism conservation relationship in Murshidabad upholds the criticality characteristically observed in developing countries, where governments focus primarily on the revenue generating potential of built-heritage centric tourism ignoring the conservation attention necessary to retain authenticity and meaningful existence of historic structures. The overarching issues emerging from the current level of relational maturity in Murshidabad are identified with suggestions for possible policy implications of the study.     

Archaeological heritage tourism in China: the case of the Daming Palace from the tourists' perspective

Archaeological heritage tourism has been critical in historic cultural revival, archaeological knowledge dissemination, environment upgrading, and local community improvement. Little has been undertaken to evaluate the effectiveness and consequences of archaeological heritage projects in China from the tourist perspective. This study of the Daming Palace Heritage Site in Xi’an illustrates how archaeological and cultural resources have contributed to tourists' experiences. Through investigating an array of approaches that have been applied to advance tourists' understanding of archaeological and cultural resources, the paper proposes that more versatile methods and creative works are to be integrated to develop effective interpretative methods for both education and entertainment purposes. Local government needs to change its top-down approach to a more inclusive one, to establish strong networks among state and non-state stakeholders, and to promote their collective involvement in archaeological heritage tourism. Heritage site packaging strategies and partnerships among heritage resources citywide are advocated. More attention should be given to how to integrate various resources of local communities into heritage tourism. The current organization of government-run archaeological heritage in China calls for more opportunities for archaeologists to contribute actively with their expertise to enhance interpretive programmes and general tourist experience.     

Restoring tourist confidence and travel intentions after disasters: some insights from a rejoinder to a series of unfortunate events in Malaysian tourism

Many countries face a decline in tourist confidence and reduced travel intentions after disasters. However, Malaysia – a country that experienced a series of aviation tragedies throughout 2014 – encountered an overall increase in inbound tourists and monetary receipts. This article more closely examines the effects of these unfortunate events on Malaysian tourism and identifies several strategic avenues that can contribute to restoring tourist confidence and reigniting tourist interest in travelling to disaster-stricken countries.