Visitor Books and Guest-generated Discourses of Hospitality: The Case of the Hanok

This study analyzes visitor book entries as cultural repositories of guest-generated hospitality discourses to understand how guests articulate/narrativize hospitality. Inquiry into visitor book entries offers insight into ways in which tourists render people and place intelligible. Utilizing textual analysis, this study examines discursive entries contained within visitor books displayed at a traditional South Korean hanok guesthouse/commercial home. The findings indicate that tourists' entries could be classified into three emergent categories: Structural Esthetics, Emotions/Affective State, and Inter-personal Engagement. Guests' entries indicated that there was an appreciation for the display of traditional architecture, which facilitated sentiments of relaxation, contentment, tranquility, and homeliness. The hanok is thus regarded as a therapeutic landscape in which positive emotions are nurtured. Guests' entries also showcased evidence of genuine and personalized exchanges with hosts. This study points to the need for further theorizations on the role of indigenous knowledge in informing the performance and reception of hospitality.     

An Alternative Management Framework to Limit the Impact of SCUBA Divers on Coral Assemblages

This study investigates the relationship between the level of exposure to interpretive media and the cognition, affect and behaviour of zoo visitors, i.e. what they report knowing, feeling and doing following their interpretive experience at the zoo. Visitors were surveyed at the exit to a particular zoo experience, a recently opened lion exhibit that uses an array of static and face-to-face interpretive media to convey messages about the difficulties faced by lions, particularly when they come into contact with humans. A validated self-report instrument consisting of 29 items was used to capture ten cognitive, affective and behavioural indicators or outcomes of the interpretation. The 288 respondents experienced between one and four different interpretive media, and the results on every one of the ten indicators reveal that visitors' reported cognitive, affective and behavioural outcomes were greater, many with statistical significance, as the number of interpretive media increased. The findings confirm and extend previous research which found that the cognitive impact of interpretation was not only greater with multiple layers of interpretation but also suggested the need for further research with other types of interpretive media on other visitors and in a wider range of sustainable tourism contexts.     

Factors influencing food and beverage employees’ career success: A contextual perspective

This study explored the important influential factors of Food and Beverage employees’ career success in international tourist hotels and identified relationships among these factors from contextual perspectives. Data was obtained from a sample of 481 respondents drawn from 22 international tourist hotels in Taiwan and analyzed with the AMOS program. The structural equation modeling results showed that multiple contexts influenced the career success of F&B employees in international tourist hotels, such as the Micro-System, the Meso-System, including organizational psychological factors, the Exo-System, and the Macro System contexts. In particular, the Exo-System context was the most direct influential factor for career success.     

Critical issues of globalisation in the international hotel industry

Competition in the international hotel industry is increasingly global as hotels seek new ways to grow and customers have more alternatives to choose from. Globalisation could lead to bland hotel images where hotels are similar wherever they are located. They could lose their local uniqueness and authenticity. This paper presents strategies for international hotel companies to operate in the globalised market. The main issues of globalisation in the international hotel industry are also discussed and ways to optimise the implementation of operating strategies given.     

The role of equity,trust and information on user fee acceptance in protected areas and other public lands: a structural model

Although inequity has been considered as a major concern of user fees on public lands, there is a lack of sufficient empirical research on understanding how perceptions of inequity influence fee acceptance. The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to examine the role of three equity constructs on fee acceptance, and (2) to test whether perceptions of inequity mediate the relationship between trust, information and fee acceptance. This study is based on a telephone survey conducted with residents of Oregon and Washington, United States. The sampling was conducted using a random-digit dial process, yielding 366 completed interviews. The results of structural equation modeling showed that, among the three-dimensional equity constructs, i.e. compensatory equity, democratic equity and equity belief, only equity belief influenced fee acceptance. Further, equity belief partially mediated the effects of information and trust on fee acceptance. Providing more information about fees to the public such as why fees are collected, and where the fee dollars went, and gaining trust with the public through more accountability, transparency and public participation can help to reduce the perception of inequity, and consequently help to build support towards the recreation user fee programme.     

Sustainable Mi'kmaw cultural tourism development in Nova Scotia,Canada: examining cultural tourist and Mi'kmaw perspectives

This study assessed tourists' motivations and satisfaction in participating in authentic Mi'kmaw tourism activities in Nova Scotia, Canada, as well as the ideas, perceptions and components of sustainable cultural tourism development from the Mi'kmaw perspective. To solicit the tourists' perspective, surveys were administered to tourists visiting the existing Mi'kmaw cultural tourism sites in Nova Scotia, while the Mi'kmaw perspective was obtained through key informant interviews. The results of the survey suggest that tourists visiting the Mi'kmaw cultural tourism sites were highly educated and deeply interested in learning about culture and participating in authentic cultural experiences. Tourists were also highly satisfied with their experience and were interested in participating in aboriginal tourism again. Findings regarding the Mi'kmaw perspective indicate a focus on cultural tourism's ability to educate both tourists and the Mi'kmaw people on the Mi'kmaw culture as well as provide economic opportunities for Mi'kmaw communities. Of greater importance to the Mi'kmaw people is the preservation and protection of the Mi'kmaw culture. Conclusions drawn from the research include recommendations for the future success and sustainability of the Mi'kmaw cultural tourism sector. This study's findings may also inform other Canadian aboriginal communities seeking to develop robust and sustainable cultural tourism in their own settings.     

Littering in protected areas: a conservation and management challenge – a case study from the Autonomous Region of Madrid,Spain

This paper examines issues surrounding littering in protected areas (PAs), one of the most ubiquitous and conspicuous impacts of tourism activity. In addition to obvious visual, landscape-affecting impacts, litter may have hazardous consequences for biodiversity and humans. In order to precisely assess littering in a densely populated region with high levels of visitation to natural and protected areas, we counted, measured and classified all types of non-organic litter covering an area of 1 cm² or more found on the ground in zones intensively used by visitors (picnic areas and paths) within the 10 PAs of the Autonomous Region of Madrid. On average, 11.65 m²/ha of litter were recorded in those zones. Strict visitor management measures greatly reduced that figure. Over 75% of all litter was paper and cardboard, and plastic; 88% of litter coverage was by large pieces over 25 cm² in size. We tested the hypothesis that the amount of waste found on paths is correlated with the distance to the entrance to a PA, but no general model fitted actual litter distribution patterns, although empirical results backed the hypothesis for most cases. A range of waste management strategies are explored and litter management measures suggested for problematic PAs.     

Visitor Attitudes to Stonehenge: International Icon or National Disgrace?

Stonehenge is the UK's major prehistoric tourism attraction, with almost 1 million annual visitors, one of the top 10 UK visitor attractions since the early 1990s and an international icon used in tourism marketing. However, Stonehenge is controversial; major issues are access, authenticity and interpretation, with the actual visitor experience being criticised and termed ‘a national disgrace’ by British Members of Parliament (MPs). This paper reports on research conducted at Stonehenge in late summer and early autumn 2004. This involved a questionnaire survey that asked about motivations, visitor impacts and satisfaction levels. Results reveal educational factors to be major motivators and that Stonehenge is a World Heritage Site was also an important motivation. The results reveal a variety of views, and a more complex picture than is apparent from much rhetoric concerning Stonehenge as a visitor attraction. Overseas visitors were more positive in their reaction than British visitors, first time visitors more satisfied than repeat visitors and female visitors somewhat more positive in their reaction than men. In terms of their experience, and largely contradicting the UK Government committee claims, the majority of visitors indicated that Stonehenge has good interpretation, a fair entrance charge, provides good value for money and, overall, is an enjoyable experience.     

Properties of first-time vs. repeat visitors: lessons for marketing Norwegian ski resorts

This paper explores the potential in foreign markets for winter tourism in Norway and discusses the influencing factors explaining why foreign tourists visit and revisit Norway on ski vacations. In a decreasing market, it becomes increasingly important to destination managers and marketers to choose the right marketing strategies and direction. We focus on characteristics that influence and explain why foreign tourists choose to return. More than 3000 respondents from Sweden, Denmark, and Germany were asked for their image of Norwegian ski destinations and criteria for winter vacation selection. We fitted mainly hurdle and quantile regressions to gain consistent and less biased estimates. Stable snow conditions, combining alpine and cross-country skiing, and no fees for the latter are some of Norway's competitive but seldom marketed advantages, and especially towards repeat visitors. Repeaters typically prefer self-catering accommodation and are less price sensitive. Surprisingly, foreign ski tourists are not very interested in other snow-based activities or cultural attractions. Despite repeaters constituting the majority of foreign ski tourists, neither the national development and marketing agency (Innovation Norway) nor local tourist organizations and marketers have a strategy for targeting them. We recommend a shift from profile marketing towards segmented marketing, aimed especially at the repeat-visitor segment.     

Who promotes a value‐in‐diversity perspective? A fuzzy set analysis of executives’ individual and organizational characteristics

Diversity perspectives are philosophies of or approaches to diversity held by organizations, groups, or executives. They are important for organizations because they can determine the success or failure of diversity in the workforce. However, little is known about the predictors of diversity perspectives among executives. Using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis, we analyzed 50 interviews with top executives in Germany to identify individual and organizational characteristics that predict executives' adoption of a diversity perspective, in particular of a value‐in‐diversity perspective. Specifically, we analyzed gender, age, education level, vocational background, and tenure (individual characteristics), as well as size, sector of organization, and competitive environment (organizational characteristics), as potential predictors. We found single characteristics did not predict adoption, but configurations of characteristics did. Drawing on the person‐situation‐interactionist perspective, we developed specific profiles of executives likely to foster a value‐in‐diversity perspective and identified characteristics of their work environments that support such an approach. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.