Residents' place image: a cluster analysis and its links to place attachment and support for tourism

While there is a plethora of studies segmenting the lucrative tourism market, limited attention has been given to identifying potential segments of local residents based on their image of the place they live in as a tourist destination. This study aims to address this gap by (a) clustering local residents of a tourist destination based on their images of that place; and (b) identifying whether those image-based resident groups share similar/different levels of place attachment and intentions toward tourism (support for tourism, intention to recommend it to others). Analysis was based on a sample of 368 residents of Eilat, Israel. The findings suggest the presence of three resident groups with different images of Eilat – called Nature Aesthete, Appreciator, and Critical – and provide support that these groups exhibit dissimilar levels of attachment and intentions/behavior toward tourism. The Appreciator (residents with the most favorable image) were reported exhibiting higher levels of place attachment, support for tourism and were more likely to recommend their place to others as a tourist destination than the Critical (residents with the least favorable image). The implications of these findings to tourism theory and practice are discussed.     

Destination management organizations and destination marketing: adopting the business model of e-portals in engaging travel agents

ABSTRACT

Destination management organizations (DMOs) have an important role in engaging stakeholders in collaboration. Collaborating with stakeholders is useful for both stakeholders and destinations. However, it takes time and needs rigorous coordination to avoid conflicts with stakeholders. This study measures travel agencies’ attitudes towards engaging in online collaboration with DMOs for marketing purposes. It incorporates collaboration and technology acceptance models to predict the attitudes and intentions of travel agents using structural equation modeling. Data were collected from travel agents in Cairo, Egypt, using the random sample technique. This study will be useful for travel and tourism stakeholders and governmental marketing bodies.     

The moderating role of nationality on destination experience

ABSTRACT

Differences in tourists’ cultural values are significant factors in their product and service choices, yet they have generally been neglected in the literature. Therefore, this study examined how tourists’ nationalities influence their perceptions of service quality, affective image perceptions, and revisiting intentions. Activities were found to be more determinant on a destination’s affective image for Russian tourists, whereas accommodation, hospitality, and language communication services had a larger effect on German tourists.     

Investigating the moderating effect of information sources on cruise tourist behaviour in a port of call

The aim of the study is to examine how destination knowledge acquired by cruisers through different information sources (online versus others) can moderate destination image formation and the relationship of image–satisfaction–behavioural intentions in a port of call. A multiple group analysis with partial least square method was carried out using data collected from a major tourism destination in Spain: Valencia. The findings revealed knowledge acquired through different information sources is a moderator of the image–satisfaction and satisfaction–behavioural intention relationships. The destination image formation is also significantly different from one group to the other. The findings of this study have a number of practical implications.     

Effects of personification and anthropomorphic tendency on destination attitude and travel intentions

This research examined how individual differences in anthropomorphic tendency (the tendency to humanize non-human agents/objects) influence how people respond to destination marketing communications. Specifically, this study examined whether individual-level anthropomorphic tendency and text-personification of destination marketing communications interact to influence destination attitude and travel intentions. Results from a study involving 210 Australian participants revealed that destination attitude and travel intentions were most favorable for people with high levels of anthropomorphic tendency and who were exposed to personified tourism messages. These findings indicate that text-personification represents a new communication tactic for tourism – particularly for target consumers who are high in anthropomorphic tendency – and one that can humanize the destination leading to more favorable attitudes and higher intentions to travel. This effect is mediated by positive emotions. People with high anthropomorphic tendency who are exposed to a personified advertisement feel more positive emotions, which lead to positive tourism outcomes.     

Gay tourism in a sun and beach destination

Gay tourism is seen as an attractive business opportunity for many destinations. However, there is a lack of research at identifying the resources necessary for success in this type of tourism. This work is aimed at filling this gap by using the premises of the resource based view and transfers them to the analysis of territories to identify the valuable resources that are required for a sun and beach destination to attract gay tourists. To this end, this study has focused on a gay tourism sub niche, tourists lodged in gay-exclusive resorts in Gran Canaria. In order to confirm the validity of this approach, the relationship between the satisfaction of gay tourists and the condition of the valuable resources was studied by means of a robust statistical new method, namely Bayesian model averaging. That method permits the inclusion of uncertainty in the theoretical models that determine destination competitiveness, thus reducing many of the problems that arise in the application of the more conventional statistical methods in this type of analysis.     

北京旅游目的地形象的感知——中西方旅游者博客的多维话语分析

目前,很少有学者采用旅游者博客这一新兴的方式研究游客对旅游目的地形象的感知。文章选择中西方旅游者博客话语为切入点,从“文化繁荣”、“宜居和生态”、“现代化大都市”、“社会和谐”和“经济发展”5个维度探讨中西方游客对北京旅游目的地形象感知的异同,并讨论了两个不同旅游群体在文化背景、意识形态和消费水平方面的差异。最后,文章对如何提升来京中西方游客的体验评价提出了切实的建议。此研究意在强调旅游者博客在旅游目的地形象研究中的重要意义,同时亦希望能够对话语分析的跨学科发展作出贡献。     

国家形象与目的地形象：概念的异同和整合的可能

国家形象是国际商务和国际营销领域的重要概念,目的地形象是旅游领域的重要概念。在竞争日益激烈的全球化市场上,国家形象和目的地形象对于产品和旅游目的地获得竞争优势具有重要的战略价值。目前,国家形象和目的地形象研究基本上是独立的,文章在全面回顾两个领域最新研究进展的基础上,分析两概念定义、理论基础、形象主体和客体、形象内容等方面的异同;根据对国家形象、目的地形象与旅游研究中的其他社会心理变量之间关系的分析,提出整合这些变量的旅游意向模型以及相应的三个命题,以引导下一步的实证研究。     

基于CenterNet的跑步姿态鉴别系统的设计

为了改善目前大众跑步姿势普遍不规范的现状,提出了一种基于CenterNet的跑步姿态鉴别系统。首先,通过截图、拍照的方式自制数据集,并对数据集进行清洗、标注和分析,消除数据无关信息与简化数据。其次,引入多尺度通道注意力机制与添加十字星变形卷积2种方式改进CenterNet算法模型,将动作图像转化为数字信息和特征向量,并以此为基础,利用KNN（K-nearest neighbors）算法对跑步姿态类型进行分类。最后,与经典模型方案进行对比,验证改进CenterNet算法鉴别系统的有效性。结果表明：改进的CenterNet模型的精确率与召回率都有所提升,其参数量与计算量降低。所提算法模型能够对大多数不良姿势作出及时、准确反馈,有效帮助跑步爱好者发现问题,从而改善跑步姿态、提高运动效率、预防伤病。     

The Learning Tourism Destination: The potential of a learning organisation approach for improving the sustainability of tourism destinations

Globalisation, increasing complexity, and the need to address triple-bottom line sustainability have seen the proliferation of Learning Organisations (LO) who, by definition, have the capacity to anticipate environmental changes and economic opportunities and adapt accordingly. Such organisations use system dynamics modelling (SDM) for both strategic planning and the promotion of organisational learning. Although SDM has been applied in the context of tourism destination management for predictive reasons, the current literature does not analyse or recognise how this could be used as a foundation for an LO. This study introduces the concept of the Learning Tourism Destinations (LTD) and discusses, on the basis of a review of six case studies, the potential of SDM as a tool for the implementation and enhancement of collective learning processes. The results reveal that SDM is capable of promoting communication between stakeholders and stimulating organisational learning. It is suggested that the LTD approach be further utilised and explored.