Exploring the relationship between government and destination competitiveness: The TALC model perspective

Competitiveness is evident in the marketplace as tourism has become a major tool for economic grow and job creation. Destinations must learn how to think more like businesses and develop new products, markets, and customers. Governments also play vital roles in tourism development, ranging from minimal to high level of involvement. Due to tourism's dynamic nature, Butler's (1980) tourism area lifecycle (TALC) framework helps explain the level of government involvement in tourism development. This article develops a conceptual model adding government involvement and destination competitiveness to TALC. Secondary data demonstrate the model and the results extend TALC's conceptualization by adding national competitiveness and government involvement to explain destination development.     

How do tourists' attribution of destination social responsibility motives impact trust and intention to visit? The moderating role of destination reputation

Through the lenses of attribution theory, signal theory, and social exchange theory, this study proposed and tested a conceptual model that investigates how tourists' attribution of destination social responsibility (DSR) motives impact destination trust and intention to visit a destination. The moderating effects of destination reputation (good vs. average) were particularly examined in the proposed model. The results of three experimental studies revealed that the impact of DSR motive attributions on destination trust and intention to visit vary under different conditions of destination reputation. In particular, when a destination has a good reputation, the positive impact of intrinsic DSR motive attribution tends to be stronger than that of extrinsic DSR motive attribution. However, when a destination's reputation is average, the impact of the two types of DSR motive attributions become insignificant. The findings of this study provide theoretical and practical implications for destination marketing and DSR campaigns.     

Could virtual reality effectively market slow travel in a heritage destination?

A recent trend in tourism research involves the application of high technology in marketing practices such as virtual reality (VR), cell phone apps, and new media. Among these, VR is the most novel. In 2016, Discovery Travel created TRVLR, which includes all seven continents. Even earlier, specific tourist destinations were providing VR content about their respective locales. These venues expose potential tourists to tourist locations by immersing them in a visceral, 360-degree storytelling setting. However, while VR has gradually grown in popularity in the tourism industry, the marketing effects have been infrequently studied by academia. This research asked participants to view a VR presentation of a famous 700-year-old Chinese painting, and investigated viewers' nostalgia and ST travel intentions. Information was collected from 308 samples at certain popular tourist destinations around Fuzhou in the Fujian Province of China, and Taipei and Taoyuan in Taiwan. Structural equation modeling was then used to analyze the collected data and test the hypotheses. The findings indicate that VR is a very useful tool for encouraging respondents to travel to Jinan in a slower and more intensely observational manner, significantly arousing their sense of nostalgia and leading to a strong intention to ST to Jinan. This research provides important insights into how this new technology might function as a tool for marketing Jinan, a tier-two but historically important destination in China. The implications of these findings are important to understanding the associations for potential tourists among VR use, destination marketing, and travel intention, particularly when the object city is relatively unknown.     

The impact of destination tariffs on China’s exports: Country,firm, and product perspectives

Based on multi-product heterogeneous firm trade theory, we combine China's customs data with the World Integrated Trade Solution’s (WITS) tariff data from 2002 to 2013 and analyze the impact of destination tariffs on China's exports at the country, firm, and product levels. The results reveal that tariffs had a negative effect on country-level exports and their extensive margins. After controlling for the inter-firm composition effect, tariffs had negative effects on firm-level exports and their intensive margins, but positive effects on their extensive margins. After also controlling for the within-firm export composition effect, tariffs had a negative impact on the exports of core products; however, the negative impact diminished as the core grade and technological content of the products increased. Using these elasticities to analyze Sino-U.S. trade frictions, we determine that the additional U.S. tariffs reduced China's exports of high-tech products more than its medium- and low-tech products.     

Always best or good enough? The effect of ‘mind-set’ on preference consistency over time in tourist decision making

Where a lengthy period is available for the choice of tourist destination, people’s tendency to change their minds can be pronounced. This makes the investigation of preference (in)consistency of great interest. Here, we integrate construal level theory (CLT) with mind-set theory, for the first time, to explore the moderating effect of an internal factor (i.e. mind-set) on preference shifts from desirable to feasible attributes over time. The results of four choice experiments suggest that, compared with people with a satisficing mind-set, people with a maximizing mind-set are reluctant to sacrifice desirability for feasibility, which counters the inclination to alter preferences as the decision time approaches. Furthermore, we found that different preference patterns between maximizers and satisficers are not connected to desirability but result from maximizers’ consistency in placing less importance on feasibility. Implications for future studies and destination marketers are outlined.     

This must be the place: A destination-loyalty model for extreme sporting events

This paper tests a moderated sequential mediation model based on hypothesized relationships in extreme sporting events, addressing what drives participants’ destination loyalty. Drawing from edgework theory and sensation-seeking theory, the model accounts for sensation-seeking, event authenticity, self-enhancement, place attachment, and revisit intention. Two opposite paths emerge: a direct, negative relationship between sensation-seeking and destination loyalty, and a positive indirect path mediated by self-enhancement and place attachment. The relationships are explored in two studies: first, Study 1 on 300 individuals attending FISE, the largest freestyle sports event in the world. Then, Study 2, meant to extend the ecological validity of Study 1, based on a panel of 300 attendees of various extreme sporting events in several disciplines. Implications for theory and practice are addressed.     

Benchmarking benchmarks: measuring characteristic selectivity using portfolio holdings data

This study proposes methodological adjustments to the widely adopted performance benchmarking methodology of Daniel et al. (1997 ) as a means of improving the precision of alpha measurement for active equity fund managers. We achieve this by considering the monthly updating of characteristic benchmarks and to ensure neutrality to the Standard & Poor's/Australian Stock Exchange 300 index. Applying this benchmark to a representative sample of active Australian equity funds and simulated passive portfolios that mimic fund manager‐style characteristics, we find statistically different and lower tracking error compared with using the standard characteristic benchmark methodology. We also find evidence that the modified benchmark statistically infers an alpha closer to zero compared with the standard benchmark methodology. Our findings suggest that improved specifications of characteristic benchmarks represent better methods in quantifying fund manager skill.     

On the utilization of resources: perspectives from the U.S. telecommunications industry

The issue of resource utilization is important in the resource-based stream of work, since the ability of firms to utilize resources is a key indicator of their competitive abilities. This paper specifies why some firms might be better at utilizing resources than others. Thereafter, it demonstrates how to empirically ascertain differences in resource utilization patterns between firms using the U.S. telecommunications industry as a context. The data envelopment analysis procedure (DEA), which is a firm-level resource utilization measure, is used. This procedure can be useful for the resource-based approach research agenda since performance is measured in resource terms. DEA is applied to measure variations in different dimensions of resource utilization for the firms making up the local operating sector of the telecommunications industry. The use of DEA to guide empirical research and address theoretical issues within the resource-based paradigm is illustrated, using the resource utilization index for the telecommunications firms as the measure of strategic performance. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

深圳旅游目的地营销系统（DMS）绩效评价及对策研究

作为信息时代的产物,旅游目的地营销系统（DM S）已经成为目的地营销的主要手段,其营销绩效直接影响着目的地的整体营销效果,因此,对其进行科学、准确的评价具有重要的现实意义。目前国内外相关研究极少,亟待开创性的探索。尝试建立了适合我国DM S发展现状的绩效评价指标体系,并运用综合评价和模糊数学的相关理论构建了多层次模糊综合评价模型,在此基础上,对深圳旅游目的地营销系统营销绩效进行了定量评价。研究结果表明,影响深圳DM S营销绩效的最直接因素是目的地旅游形象的美誉度,而最敏感因素是目的地旅游收入增长率和接待人次增长率。最后,以评价结果为依据,对深圳DM S的运营给出了系列针对性建议。     

ANALYZING PERFORMANCE AUDIT REPORTS OF DESTINATION MANAGEMENT ORGANIZATIONS' ACTIONS AND OUTCOMES

As past research has considered the major stages of the consumer behavior model separately, it is hardly possible to evaluate the most effective factor over final decision making. Thus, this study has a special significance, as it evaluates every stage, makes a comparison between stages, and puts forward the relationship between them. The discussion of findings is related to the assessment of data collected through a questionnaire survey among Turkish domestic tourists. Study findings have concluded a positive interrelationship among all stages of the consumer behavior model in tourism, and these findings can be regarded as sufficient evidence to support the 10 research hypotheses proposed in the study. In light of these findings, the paper also addresses both theoretical and practical implications.