The perceived influence of travel experiences on learning generic skills

Empirical work exploring the role of travel in assisting the learning of skills is of interest to travellers, educators and employers. Pearce and Foster’s generic skills attributes list was used as a basis to investigate the amount and nature of perceived learning by North American University students. It was established through survey research and tested with ANOVA comparisons that travel experiences were perceived as assisting the learning of generic skills, especially amongst those who had travelled internationally four or more times. Key skills seen as influenced by travel included independence, being open-minded and feeling comfortable around all kinds of people. There was a moderate increase in communication skills. The findings showed close links with previous studies of youth budget travellers. Employers and educators can consider travel to be a learning opportunity affecting the acquisition of key business and generic skills.     

Toward an integrated model of tourist expectation formation and gender difference

This study aims to build and test a theoretical model of tourist expectation formation and seeks to explore the gender differences regarding how tourists form their expectations toward a travel destination. Survey data were obtained from 774 outbound Chinese tourists to Macao, and structural equation modelling was used to test the model and proposed hypotheses. The results reveal that travel motivation, advertising, and word-of-mouth (WOM) recommendations influence travelers' cognitive image and cognitive image interacts with affective image to form individuals' expectations toward travel destinations. Notably, the impacts of travel motivation and advertising on cognitive image, and of cognitive image on tourist expectations were significantly stronger for males than females, while the effects of WOM on cognitive image and of affective image on tourist expectations were stronger for females than males. Both theoretical and practical implications of these important findings are discussed.     

The power of expert identity: How website-recognized expert reviews influence travelers' online rating behavior

The objective of this paper is to study the effects of online user-generated “expert reviews” on travelers' behavior. After controlling for a large set of independent variables, the results show that as the number of expert reviews for a hotel increases, future traveler ratings for the hotel increase. However, the marginal effect of a greater number of expert reviews decreases. Further, as the reviewing expertise level of a traveler increases, the traveler posts more negative ratings, but the marginal effect of the level of reviewing expertise decreases. Our results also indicate that reviewing expertise can reinforce the positive effect of expert hotel reviews on travelers' rating behavior. The robustness of our results is confirmed by a Bayesian ordered logit model. Finally, the implications of the results are discussed in terms of research and practice.     

Visitors' Motivation for Attending the South Beach Wine and Food Festival,Miami Beach,Florida

The objective of this study was to identify the major factors that motivated visitors to attend the South Beach Wine and Food Festival in Miami Beach, Florida, and determine whether these factors varied among the visitors from the United States, Canada, South America, Europe, and Asia. A survey of 475 visitors to South Florida was conducted in February 2006. Forty‐four motivational items were factor analyzed. The seven factors that motivated first‐time visitors to the festival were the desire to taste new wine and food, enjoy the event, enhance social status, escape from routine life, meet new people, spend time with family, and get to know the celebrity chefs and wine experts. A significant difference in motivation among the five national groups of visitors was found in the area of family influence. Implications of the study results are discussed.     

Influence of On-Site Choices on Recreation Demand

Eleven conceptual models that illustrate the relationship between ethnicity/race and recreation are examined. From Lindsay and Ogle (1972) to Floyd, Gramman, and Saenz (1993), the reader is taken through the array of theoretical models that have been used to determine recreation participation by ethnic/racial groups in America. A new conceptual model is created that incorporates elements from each of the previous 11 models. This new model is termed the Ethnicity and Public Recreation Participation Model (EPRP Model) © . The EPRP Model is introduced as a viable theoretical framework for studying and measuring the relationship between ethnic/racial factors and recreation participation.     

Travel Agents and Their Survival Thomas

Abstract

The travel agency industry depends upon commissions for a majority of its revenue. When these commissions decrease or stop the industry must change the means in which revenue is made. The Internet has caused a significant reduction in airline ticket sales and therefore has caused travel agencies to change. In addition travel agencies have reduced commissions paid to airlines thus causing more changes. There were four categories of travel agencies discussed in the article along with their adaptation styles. These types include (1) the independent operator of a small travel agency with very limited resources (2) the normal agency with 2 or 3 agents which does a substantial business (3) the larger agency that is high-tech and high touch and depends on automation and the Web to some extent (innovators) (4) agencies that are Web based with very little automation otherwise and who were technologically adaptable and saw opportunity in the Web. The study examines how agencies have adapted and prospered through this transitional period.     

Travel frequency of seniors tourists

Current demand for tourism is characterized by more frequent, shorter trips throughout the year. Such trends may have adverse effects on the hospitality industry but benefit the travel industry. Most current literature assumes that the variables that determine travel participation are identical to those that influence travel frequency, though there is no evidence to support this assumption. Therefore, the current study seeks to identify variables that influence travel frequency among Spanish senior tourists, who represent a key target market for the tourism industry. The results specify that gender, self-perceived economic status, and self-perceived time available variables strongly determine Spanish seniors' travel frequency.     

Disintermediation of travel agents in the hotel industry

The trend of massive disintermediation is threatening the livelihood of travel agents. This paper investigates the disintermediation of travel agents in the hospitality industry when hotels take distribution back into their own hands by setting up websites that allow guests to make bookings online. We analyze the factors affecting an agent's possible responses to a hotel's destructive acts, and put forward suggestions to agents to fight against the trend of disintermediation. We also point out what hotels can do to improve the quality of their relationship with their agents should they decide to launch their online channel.     

Travel Behaviors of Mainland Chinese Visitors to Macao

This study empirically identifies variations in traveling patterns underlying the second wave of the Chinese outbound tourism market. Targeting visitors to Macao (Special Administrative Region), this study examined respondents’ traveling behaviors with data collected from three continuous large-scale surveys. Results reaffirmed the conceptually repeated, but not empirically verified, viewpoint that the Chinese market is evolving. Specifically, there has been a surging interest in self-organizing trips with smaller groups, skipping pre-trip planning, and last-minute booking (i.e. walk-ins). Conversely, mainland Chinese showed less interest in gaming-related activities. Implications and suggestions are offered accordingly.     

Exploring the traveller underinsurance problem

Recent research has found that, in general, travellers are significantly underinsured when travelling abroad. Travel is a unique market among insurance products as there are factors that exacerbate the uncertainty from the consumers’ perspective, such as variable time periods of being insured, variable forms of coverage and scale, level of knowledge of the risks at the destination and the activities to be undertaken. We view the current state of the travel insurance market as inefficient as consumers are deemed generally misinformed and unaware of the intricacies of the products on offer and, we argue, behave sub-optimally due to behavioural patterns and perceptions regarding travel. In this commentary, we discuss issues that are unique to travel insurance products which may distort consumer perceptions and highlight a research agenda to address these issues and improve efficiency in the market.