Buyer Characteristics Among Users of Various Travel Intermediaries

SUMMARY

As online travel purchases increase, travel intermediaries must change to meet consumer demands. A survey was conducted to identify travelers' selection criteria and expectations of traditional travel agents. Responses from 382 individuals were compared by their methods of purchasing travel arrangements, including those who purchased online, offline, or both. Differences were found among the groups in terms of travel agent selection criteria and expectations; however, the groups were similar in their frequency of travel and number of information sources used. Results and conclusions identified strategies for travel intermediaries to attract and retain clientele.     

Positive emotions and spirituality in older travelers

This paper explores the potential of travel to generate self-transcendent positive emotions and contribute to the spirituality of travelers. Senior travelers are chosen as the target group for this research as spirituality and focus on emotions are salient characteristics of older adults. Sixteen depth interviews are conducted with experienced travelers aged 60–85. Content analysis reveals that travelling generates three categories of self-transcendent positive emotions including awe of natural beauty and Man’s harmonious relationship with nature, awe of manmade heritage and artistic beauty, admiration of other people and appreciation of kindness. Respondents also describe how travelling positively influences their spirituality by giving a positive meaning to their lives and nurturing their reflection on the meaning of life.     

Differences in tourist ethical judgment and responsible tourism intention: An ethical scenario approach

While many tourists recognize the necessity of responsible tourism, not all respond to it equally. Thus, this study explores behavioral discrepancies in responsible tourism practices with respect to three types of ethical travel issues (economic, socio-cultural, and environmental). An ethical decision-making process that begins with perceived importance of ethical issues (PIE) was examined using a scenario approach based on responses from tourists in South Korea. Results found that (1) tourists responded to specific responsible issues in different ways, (2) PIE was positively related to ethical decision making, and (3) except for economic issues, tourists with more travel experiences were more likely to make ethically favorable decisions. Such findings provide useful information that can help improve upon the limited understanding of the ethical decisions of tourists. Effective communication and management strategies to raise awareness and facilitate responsible tourist behavior are further discussed.     

Harmony rules in Chinese backpacker groups

Despite recognition that Chinese backpackers travel in small, self-organised groups, studies have yet to examine how group dynamics affect the travel experience. Multi-sited ethnography and netnography were deployed to follow Chinese backpackers in Europe to explore their group dynamics. The findings reveal that Chinese backpackers sustain hierarchical group relations by applying cultural attributes of ‘respect for authority’ and ‘keqi’. A conflict-free status is achieved by following the codes of ‘guanxi’ and ‘conformity’. Harmony is practiced to either develop harmonious relationships or resolve potential discord. This study contributes to the literature on harmony by synthesising relevant cultural attributes to understand their applications in group dynamic. It furthermore contributes to the literature on backpacker tourism and self-organised travel group dynamics.     

A framework toward sustainable ecotourism value chain in the Philippines

Philippine tourism growth is largely driven by visits to natural attractions. Addressing concerns on sustainability, environmental conservation, and local community involvement has become increasingly challenging. We identify the critical players in the industry and create a value chain framework for Philippine ecotourism that incorporates the quadruple bottom-line strategy to understand how sustainable tourism is being practiced among value chain participants. Findings have implications in the pursuit of sustainable ecotourism development in the country.     

Domestic tourism expenditures: The non-linear effects of length of stay and travel party size

The independent variables length of stay and travel party size are recurrent determinants of expenditures in micro level tourism studies. In most of this research it has been tacitly assumed that these variables have linear effects on tourism spending. This study, situated in a Norwegian setting, questions this approach by explicitly scrutinizing the possible non-linearities in the relationships between tourism expenditures on the one hand and length of stay and travel party size on the other. The empirical results suggest a positive but diminishing relationship between length of stay and tourism expenditures and a convex (i.e. U) relationship between travel party size and tourism expenditures. The study also considers how a number of other key independent variables affect tourism expenditures. Finally, some managerial and scholarly implications are discussed.     

Travel queries on cities in the United States: Implications for search engine marketing for tourist destinations

Given the growing importance of search in online travel planning, marketers need to better understand the behavioural aspect of search engines use. Built upon a number of previous studies, the goal of this research is to identify patterns in online travel queries across tourist destinations. Utilizing transaction log files from a number of search engines, the analysis shows important patterns in the way travel queries are constructed as well as the commonalities and differences in travel queries about different cities in the United States. The ratio of travel queries among all queries about a specific city seems to associate with the “touristic” level of that city. Also, keywords in travelers' queries reflect their knowledge about the city and its competitors. This paper offers insights into the way tourism destinations are searched online as well as implications for search engine marketing for destinations.     

Tourism and online photography

This paper documents the use of online travel photo-sharing technologies among Hong Kong residents. The advent of Web 2.0 is changing fundamentally the tourist information search and destination choice process. Yet, to date, no study has documented Web 2.0 usage levels and preferences for certain media for posting travel photographs across an entire community. This study reveals that some 89% of pleasure travelers take photographs and that 41% of them posted their photographs online. Social network sites (SNSs), instant messaging, online photo albums and personal blogs were the most popular media used. In general, people who post photographs online tend to be younger, better educated, and earn a higher income than those who do not. The study determined that most people also use multiple media platforms to disseminate their images. Cluster analysis based on the four major styles of online platform identified five cohorts of users who differed in number and type of media used, demographic profile and travel motive. Implications for destination promotion are discussed.     

A multi-level approach to the study of production chains in the tourism sector

This paper proposes a multi-level approach to analyse the production chains in which two characteristic tourism activities – the hotel and travel agency industries – participate. Firstly, from a macroeconomic perspective, input-output techniques are used to identify the most significant tourism production chains from the regional input–output table of Andalusia (Spain). Secondly, from a microeconomic perspective, a different approach is taken based on the concept of Global Value Chains (GVC). In this respect, the structure and main agents participating in the tourism GVC are presented, and the role of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the hotel and travel agencies industries in Andalusia is put forward. Finally, these two approaches are compared and connected, exploring some characteristics of these tourism production chains at the mesoeconomic level of analysis.     

Vacation from work: A ‘ticket to creativity’?: The effects of recreational travel on cognitive flexibility and originality

Recreational travel may increase creativity by relieving workers from stress, providing diversifying experiences and increasing positive emotions. Consequently, vacations may boost creativity, apparent in a greater variety (flexibility) and originality of ideas after work resumption.In our longitudinal field study, creativity (measured by Guilford's Alternative Uses Task; independently scored by three raters) was assessed in 46 workers before and after vacation. Potential precursors for creativity changes (i.e. work load, vacation hassles, vacation destination and positive affect) were also explored.Cognitive flexibility increased whereas originality remained the same after vacation. None of the precursors explained variance in creativity changes.Although vacations seem to increase chances on creative insights by raising the amount of available cognitive elements (flexibility), they do not necessarily lead to higher levels of originality (uncommon, remote and clever ideas). Research in larger samples is required to further explore mechanisms that may explain why travel seems to enhance creativity.