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Publication AN EXAMINATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN QUALITY OF TOURISM EXPERIENCE AND PERCEIVED DESTINATION COMPETITIVENESS: THE TOURISTS: PERSPECTIVE(2007) Meng, Fang; Uysal, MuzafferDestination competitiveness has been seen as a critical issue in today’s increasingly challenging tourism market. The study develops a destination competitiveness model based on tourists’ perception and attempted to investigate how different phases of tourism/vacation experience affect tourists’ perception of the destination competitiveness. The proposed theoretical model addresses the tourism experience from the chronological and temporal aspects, i.e., tourist pre-trip planning experience, en-route experience, on-site experience, and after-trip reflection. Tourist involvement is proposed to have a moderating effect on the relationship between tourism experience dimensions and destination competitive domains. The results indicate that tourists’ perception of destination competitiveness is positively influenced by the quality of tourism experience in terms of all phases (pre-trip planning, enroute experience, on-site instrumental experience, on-site expressive experience, and aftertrip reflection). Findings also indicate that tourist involvement has a moderating effect on the relationship between tourist pre-trip planning experience, en-route experience, on-site expressive experience, and perceived destination competitiveness.Publication STRATEGY CHOICE IN TOURISM SUPPLY CHAINS FOR PACKAGE HOLIDAYS: A GAME-THEORETIC APPROACH(2007) Yang, Shu; Huang, George Q.; Liang, LiangEnterprises in a tourism supply chain usually adopt and operate two business strategies: maximizing their profits or their revenues. This paper investigates the conditions on which these strategies allow enterprises to achieve the maximum benefits in the context of entire supply chain. Several managerial implications have been derived from this theoretical research. Firstly, theme park operator, tour operators and hotel & accommodation providers obtain larger market shares and profits if they select the revenue maximization (R) strategy. Secondly, the profit maximization (P) strategy is a better strategy for both sectors when all the tour operators and all hotel & accommodation providers choose the same strategy. Finally, if both sectors could freely choose their strategies, there is market equilibrium where P-strategy and R-strategy could coexist.Publication USING VALUES TO PREDICT TOURIST MOTIVATION: AN APPLICATION TO SPECIAL EVENTS IN CULTURAL TOURISM AT THE WINNIPEG FRINGE THEATRE FESTIVAL(2007) Woosnam, Kyle M.; McElroy, Kerry E.; Van Winkle, Christine M.Using the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival in Manitoba, Canada as the context, the purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between personal values and motivations for attending a festival. More specifically the work had two primary research questions. First, what are the dominant tourist values and tourist motivations for visitors to the Winnipeg Fringe Festival? Second, what is the relationship between visitors’ values and their motivations for attending the festival? Visitors rated self-respect (M = 6.30), fun and enjoyment in life (M = 6.26), warm relationship with others (M = 6.19), and self-fulfillment (M = 6.15) as the top personal values based on Kahle’s (1983) LOV scale. Strongest motivations for attending the festival were: to be entertained (M = 6.45), to learn something new (M = 5.31), to go to the Fringe to be with others who enjoy the same thing (M = 5.19), to spend time with friends (M = 5.03), and to attend a cultural event not normally having an opportunity to go to (M = 4.93). Treating the top five motivation items as separate dependent variables, a series of stepwise regression analyses were conducted. The nine personal value items explained between 8% and 13% of the variance in the five motivation items. Belonging explained the most variance across the five regression analyses. Implications for the festival as well as future research endeavors are highlighted in the closing of the paper.Publication ONLINE REPRESENTATION OF TOURISM: AN ANALYSIS OF SEARCH RESULTS FROM A MAJOR SEARCH ENGINE(2007) Xiang, Zheng; Fesenmaier, Daniel R.; Hyun, Martin Yongho; Wober, KarlThe goal of this study is to provide a preliminary assessment of the representation of tourism destinations through a major search engine. A three-step analysis was conducted with the focus on assessing: 1) the visibility of tourism-related information regarding 30 tourist destinations within the United States; 2) the visibility of various industry sectors within 3 selected destinations; and, 3) a comparison of domain URLs of search results on a major destination. The findings show that, although there is huge amount of information indexed travelers can only access a tiny fraction of this information. Also, there are a number of dominant players among the Web pages suggested by the search engine. This study provides insights into the challenges the tourism industry is faced with when promoting a destination. It also offers several implications for developing tools and marketing strategies for the tourism industry.Publication VISITOR'S PERCEPTIONS OF THEIR OWN IMPACTS AT A SPECIAL EVENT(2007) Van Winkle, Christine M.; Backman, Kenneth F.Within the special events literature limited research exists exploring the impacts that result from special event visitation. No studies exist that examine special event attendees’ perception of their contribution to impacts. This needed perspective is valuable because management may want to develop communication material to minimize the negative outcomes of the festival and maximize the benefits. Attribution theory was used as the theoretical framework to better understand festival visitors’ perceptions of their own contribution to impacts (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975; Tetlock, 1981). During a two-week period in July 2005, self-administered surveys were distributed to Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival visitors in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Two questions were designed to better understand visitors’ perceptions of their own impacts. In total 307 visitors returned a completed survey resulting in a 53% response rate. Simple regression was used to examine the relationship between the direction of the impact (positive or negative) and visitors’ perceptions of their contribution to the impact item. The results indicated a positive significant relationship between direction of the impact and perception of contribution to impact item for each of the 8 impact items included in this study. Specifically, the more positively visitors rated an item the more they felt they contributed to an impact item. The results of this study provide support for the existence of self-serving biases in visitors’ attributions.Publication MARKETING DESTINATION THROUGH FIRST-PERSON STORIES: A NARRATIVE STRUCTURE ANALYSIS(2007) Tussyadiah, Iis P.; Fesenmaier, Daniel R.Narrative as digital word of mouth has the potential to be an effective way to market tourist destinations. Using ethnomethodology, this study identifies key marketing elements from narratives which include characterization, space categorization, and overall product and experience evaluation. The introduction of a blog writer as a personal character allows blog readers to access the picture of lived identities created through actions, attitudes, and values. Space categorization allows blog readers to have a cognitive construction of hypothetical travel scenarios including “rehearsals” of likely future travels. The results of this study demonstrate substantial potential for destination marketing organizations to facilitate and manage the interactive nature of storytelling as part of travel recommendation systems.Publication BECOMING RESEARCHED: THE OPPORTUNITIES OF AUTOETHNOGRAPHY IN TOURISM RESEARCH(2007) Scarles, Caroline; Sanderson, EleanorThis paper explores the concept of ‘becoming researched’ through the opportunities for autoethnography as a technique of data collection. This research emerges from both authors’ PhD research experiences and explores the ways in which autoethnography mobilises an appreciation for the embodied, sensual and emotional experiences of tourist and research practice. As such, it proposes communication through inter-subjective negotiation and facilitates an enriched research space within which previously ‘hidden’ spaces emerge through stimulating creativity and deepening connection through mutual appreciation between researcher and participants.Publication ESTIMATING TOURISTS' ECONOMIC VALUES OF PUBLIC BEACH ACCESS POINTS(2007) Oh, Chi-Ok; Dixon, Anthony W.; Draper, Jason; Mjelde, James W.As the population and per capita income of the United States continues to increase, opportunities for individuals to participate in travel and tourism related activities are likely to multiply as well. Coastal tourism destinations anticipate this increase in travel will result in the need to retain and provide additional public access to coastal resources. Pogue and Lee (1999) indicate that tourism and recreational needs assessments are essential to determining how to meet the growing demand for public beach access. Determining the amount of scarce public funds to be spent on maintaining and acquiring public access locations to coastal resources is dependent upon economic benefits measured by individuals’ willingness to pay (WTP) for these resources. To estimate beach visitors’ economic value (or consumer surplus) from consuming services of additional provision of beach access points, double-bounded (DB) CVM questions were used to discover the amount visitors were willing to pay per day in excess of their actual trip costs associated with their beach experience. When the values are understood as net benefits accrued from their beach experiences, in general, average visitors are willing to pay $8.3 more above the current cost. Total net WTP at the population level was $58.3 million from development and maintenance of additional beach access points with parking spaces and other preferred facilities. As the new acquisition of beach access points is high-priced, the precise estimation of visitors’ benefits accrued from provision of beach access points is indispensable to more effective management decisions and policies.Publication A STUDY OF THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PERCEIVED DESTINATION IMAGE AND RECREATIONAL NEEDS OF TRAVELERS TO INDIA(2007) Rajamohan, Subha; Yen, Tsu-Hong; da Gama, GonzagaThe purposes of the study were 1) to determine the perceived image of India as a travel destination; 2) to identify the recreational and leisure needs of travelers to India; and, 3) to investigate the relationships between perceived destination image and recreational needs. A quantitative survey research design was employed to answer the research questions. The target population comprised of travelers visiting India, who were residing in the United States. A convenience sampling method was employed due to the potential difficulty in locating potential travelers. Participants were randomly selected from the travelers going to India on the survey days. A total of 358 travelers voluntarily participated in this study. Utilizing a questionnaire, participants’ perceived image of India, their recreational and leisure needs and demographic information were collected. Results indicated that perceived image of India consisted of culture and heritage, tourism infrastructure, nature resources, social environment, entertainment services, and lodging services. Recreational needs of the travelers included need for sanitary and quality tourist services, entertainment, cultural activities, natural resources, and adventure activities. Results of multiple regression analyses revealed that dimensions of destination image explained limited variance of recreational needs. Findings of this study suggest that India needs to capitalize on its culture and heritage resources and package them with the array of existing natural attractions. In addition, it is necessary for India to improve its transportation network, tourist services, and social environment in order to create a favorable destination brand image, and position itself more advantageously in the global tourism market.Publication ASSESSING THE VALUE OF COLLABORATIONS IN TOURISM NETWORKS: A CASE STUDY OF ELKHART COUNTY(2007) Rao, Ulhas; Zach, Florian; Racherla, Pradeep; Fesenmaier, Daniel R.Publication MISUNDERSTANDING GENERATION Y: RISKS FOR TOURISM MANAGERS(2007) Moscardo, Dr. Gianna; Benckendorff, Dr. PierreGeneration Y has become more than simply a label used to describe people born between 1980 and 1994, it has become a symbol of a proposed new culture said to be unlike any before it, with a unique set of values, skills and behaviors that transcend geography and ethnicity. The consequences of this emerging culture are only just beginning to be discussed in higher education as these individuals become the core group of college students and in human relations as they enter the workforce. But Generation Y also represents a significant market for tourist operations. So are the claims made about this group true? And what are the implications of these claims for tourism managers? Both longitudinal and cross-sectional research is needed to reduce the risks that tourism managers face in dealing with this new generational cohort. This paper demonstrates the value of such research by describing a specific study that utilised time series data to examine the emergence of Generation Y in a major tourist destination in Australia, the Great Barrier Reef. The overall pattern of results suggested that the use of generational cohorts as a market segmentation tool was valid and that Generation Y was indeed emerging as a group of travellers with a unique pattern of characteristics, motivations and expectations. The data in the study showed that emerging youth markets are not like those in the past and this has implications for the provision, marketing and sustainability of current tourism activities.Publication TOURISM AND ATTITUDE CHANGE: THE CASE OF STUDY ABROAD STUDENTS(2007) Nyaupane, Gyan P.; Teye, Victor; Paris, CodyTourism is believed to be a peace industry based on the contact theory. However, not all interactions between tourists and hosts have a positive outcome. The purpose of this study is to test whether or not prior expectation and trip experience would impact the post-trip attitudes in multiple destinations. This study is based on the surveys conducted with two groups of students: 1) prior and post trip of a group of 66 students who went on study abroad program to the South Pacific (Australia and Fiji) or Europe (Austria and the Netherlands) , and 2) a control group of 80 students who did not participate in the study abroad programs. The results show that attitude changes were positive towards the Dutch and Australians,, negative towards Austrians, and mixed towards Fijians. Further investigation of experience during the trip shows that non-tourism related services experienced played an important role in changing the attitude towards Australians. This study supports the expectation theory, but contradicts the cultural distance theory of attitude change.Publication A TYPOLOGY OF CULTURAL HERITAGE ATTRACTION VISITORS(2007) Nyaupane, Gyan P.; Andereck, Kathleen L.The purpose of this study was to expand the typology of cultural heritage tourists. Cultural heritage tourists are either compared with other types of tourists, or are segmented based on cultural experience and activities. However, these tourists are not compared within the existing tourists typology framework including other tourists who visit cultural sites and events. . This study is based on a survey conducted with a randomly selected 1,938 tourists visiting 17 cultural heritage sites and three events in Arizona, USA. This study segmented the cultural heritage tourists into two groups and five sub groups based on their most influential reasons for taking the trip. This study suggested that tourists visiting cultural heritage attractions can be divided into two groups, “true cultural tourist” and “spurious cultural tourist.” Further, true cultural tourists can be sub grouped into two types, “cultural site”, and “cultural event” tourists. Similarly, spurious cultural tourists can be further divided into three sub-groups, “nature”, “sport”, and “business” tourists. Comparisons among these groups in terms of demographics, importance of attractions, and motivations suggested that two types of cultural heritage tourists are different from each other.Publication PARK VISITORS' PERCEIVED RISK AND INFORMATION SEARCH BEHAVIOR(2007) Li, Xiang (Robert); Hunf, Kam; Cheng, Chia-Kuen; Petrick, James F.This paper explores the effect of perceived risk on information search behaviors. A study conducted on park visitors’ information search characteristicsrevealed that tourists’ level of perceived risk significantly and positively influenced their perceived benefits of the information. When they deem that the risk of a purchase is relatively high, they seemed to be more engaged in the information, and hence feel more positively about the information. Counter-intuitively, this study revealed that the more risky the tourists consider the purchase to be, the fewer the types of information they used. In terms of the types of information sources, it seemed the level of risk involved in a potential purchase did not change respondents’ choice of information source. However, when their perceived risk increased, respondents were more reluctant to collect information from television, radio, or highway signs.Publication CHARACTERISTICS OF THE VISITING FRIENDS AND RELATIVES MARKETS IN PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND: A LONGITUDINAL APPROACH(2007) MacEachern, Melissa; Yun, Dongkoo; MacDonald, Roberta; Hennessey, SeanThis study attempts to better understand the VFR market in Prince Edward Island, Canada by using data set drawn from Tourist Exit Survey during the period from 2000 to 2004. The study provided an exploratory examination of trip characteristic variables between VFR and pleasure travellers and identified some significant differences between the two trip purpose groups. It also identified that the VFR markets are important and valuable for Prince Edward Island. The results imply that tourism marketers need to address the unique differences of the VFR markets in keeping with their trip patterns and characteristics.Publication SOLO TRAVEL - EXPLORATIVE INSIGHTS FROM A MATURE MARKET (SWITZERLAND)(2007) Laesser, Christian; Beritelli, Pietro; Riklin, ThomasThis study examines solo travel, and offers a conceptual framework of solo travelers, a profile of these types of travelers (by socio-demographic characteristics), and a profile of travels (by specific descriptors). The data for this study emerged from a comprehensive survey of Swiss travel behavior conducted 2004 by the University of St. Gallen (Switzerland). The conceptual model proposes an a priori segmentation of four types of solo travel, delineated on the combination of the departure status (a single, one-person household, compared to a collective, multi-persons household) and arrival status (solo travel, compared to group travel), thus creating a two-by-two matrix with four segments overall. The results of the profiling reveal significant differences between the solo travel groups, as well as towards a control group incorporating all other travel. They include income, profession, and age, as well as familiarity with the destination, choice of type of accommodation, expenditures and various types of trips. However, no significant differences can be reported with regard to the choice of destination.Publication RECONCEPTUALIZING BRAND LOYALTY: ITS CONCEPTUAL DOMAIN, COMPONENTS, AND STRUCTURE(2007) Li, Xiang (Robert); Petrick, James F.This study revisits the dimensional structure of the brand loyalty construct. Following recent developments in loyalty studies, this research conceptualizes loyalty as a four-dimensional construct, comprised of cognitive, affective, conative, and behavioral loyalty. It is proposed that the first three dimensions collectively form a higher order factor, namely attitudinal loyalty, which then leads to behavioral loyalty. However, this conceptualization is not supported by the data. Alternatively, a modified model, based on the traditional conceptualization that attitudinal loyalty is a first-order, one-dimensional construct was found to better fit the data. Thus, this study revalidates the traditional two-dimensional conceptualization of loyalty. It also contributes to the literature by introducing and validating a 5-item attitudinal loyalty measure.Publication EFFECTIVENESS OF COMMUNITY-BASED VISITOR INFORMATION CENTERS(2007) Lee, Woojin; Yoo, Kyung Hyan; Gretzel, UlrikeThe purpose of the study presented in this paper was to identify differences in VIC users between highway and community-based locations. Also, rather than simply identifying differences in VIC users, effects on several travel-related behaviors were measured. The findings indicate that visitors of community-based centers are more likely to engage in informational materials and are more likely to change trip plans based on the information obtained. The results of the study clearly support the existence of local visitor centers and underline their importance despite technological advances in travel information distribution.Publication THE MEDIATING ROLE OF TIME ON THE EVALUATION OF TOURIST DESTINATION HOME PAGES(2007) Kim, Heejun; Fesenmaier, Daniel R.Publication AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ABOUT DEVELOPING ELECTRONIC SERVICE QUALITY MEASURE FOR VISUAL COMPONENTS(2007) Kim, Sungsoo; Mattila, Anna S.The Internet has become a major channel for selling a myriad of products and services. To make the on-line shopping experience more vivid, retailers frequently portray product images and video clips on their Web-sites. Although the dimensions of e-service quality have been studied in various on-line contexts, research focusing on visual images is scant. The purpose of this exploratory study is to examine how consumers evaluate video clips portraying experiential services in the context of commercial Web-sites. Our results indicate that consumers evaluate video clips based on six distinct dimensions: user interaction, aesthetics, customization/personalization, assurance/trust, flexibility and a novel dimension called virtual human interaction.
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