Permanent URI for this collection
Browse
Recent Submissions
Publication Are New Zealand Tourism SMEs Ready for the Chinese Market? A Focus on Quality Management(2009) Liu, ClaireThe purpose of this study was to investigate quality management strategies applied in small tour attraction organisations (with 0 to 49 employees) in Auckland and identify operators’ understanding of Chinese visitor’s expectations of New Zealand as a tourist destination. Semistructured interviews were conducted with ten attraction operation managers in September 2008. The results of interviews have provided insights to the questions for the online questionnaire survey which was carried out in November 2008. The survey targeted 252 small tour attraction operators in Auckland. 39 respondents completed the questionnaires. The interview results show the major themes of findings in terms of quality management strategies and tour attraction operators’ understanding of the Chinese market. It was found that there was a general lack of awareness of quality management systems and their benefits; some tour operators realize the benefits of quality certification for marketing purposes. Quality management is not treated as a priority. Depending on product features, industry standards were generally considered as most appropriate for quality control. Small tour operators collect and analyse client information on a casual basis. Staff training is considered to be an important quality management initiative. The respondents showed a limited understanding of the Chinese market and lack of specific operational plans in place. However, the results also revealed that some operators who have had past experience with the Chinese market maintain an interest and are prepared to take actions in developing the Chinese market. The results of online surveys are similar to the findings identified in the interviews. It can be concluded that small tourism operators in Auckland are not ready for the emerging Chinese market. Operators are lacking techniques to apply quality management systems. While interested in the Chinese market, several operators do not have operational plans to meet the Chinese tourist expectations. Education and training are required to promote China as an emerging market. The findings from this research indicate the importance of ensuring that small tour operator owners understand and see the relevancy of quality standard to their organisation. This research has provided some important insights and themes that are worthy of further examination. Similar research needs to be conducted in other regions in New Zealand. Comparative studies across sectors should be undertaken to identify understanding of quality management.Publication An Examination of Factors Affecting Japanese Tourism in Hawaii(2009) Park, Sun-Young; Lee, Hye-RyeonThe Japanese tourist market is a crucial component of the Hawaii tourism economy due to both market size and higher per capita expenditures in comparison with other key markets for the state. Over the past decade, annual Japanese tourist arrivals have decreased significantly off a peak in 1997. This study examines various supply and demand factors, which may be influencing Japanese tourist arrivals to Hawaii using regression analysis. Results show that five of eight variables significantly influence the monthly Japanese tourist numbers to Hawaii: monthly total Japanese overseas tourists, available air seats, average room rates, available room units, and change in security checking procedure. Meanwhile, three variables were not found to be significant influencers: mean monthly exchange rate ($/100 Yen), anti-smoking law, and airline fuel surcharges. These results do not support the anecdotes and conjectures about the decreasing number of Japanese tourists to Hawaii.Publication An Evaluation of the Relative Importance of Tourism for Islands(2009) Bojanic, David C.; Warnick, Rod; Musante, MichaelThe purpose of this study was to compare islands and regular countries to determine if islands depend more on tourism in their economies than regular countries. In fact, it is possible that islands depend too much on tourism. A literature review covers the various areas of research regarding island tourism, including economic impact, sustainability, forecasting, and destination management. Data from the World Bank Group was used to form a panel of 140 countries for the period 1995 through 2006. Islands and regular countries were compared on economic factors such as GDP per capita, travel receipts, and travel receipts as a percentage of exports. The results indicate that islands have a lower level of travel receipts than regular countries, but travel receipts represent a higher percentage of exports for islands.Publication Accommodation Accessibility Criteria: Towards Improving Accessible Accommodation Information Formats(2009) Darcy, SimonStudies have identified a series of significant problems with the way that accessible accommodation information is documented and marketed to people with disabilities. While research on seniors and accommodation has been well-established (e.g. Ruys & Wei 1998) no research has investigated the criteria that people with disabilities determine as ‘important’ to selecting accommodation and their preference for presenting this information. This paper presents the results of a survey to determine the relative importance of room selection criteria. Once the criteria were established, four common information formats used in the Australian context were presented to ascertain the preferences of the respondents. The results strongly found that the preferred format of accessible accommodation information provision was based on a combination of textual, floor plan and digital images. The major variables affecting room selection criteria and the preferred format are the dimensions of disability and level of support needs. An accessible accommodation assessment template was then developed from the results and the paper concludes by presenting an example of the information provision suggested by the accessible accommodation assessment template. The management implications suggest accommodation businesses adopting this format are discussed.Publication An Application of a Model of Online Travel Community Behavior: Beliefs, Attitudes and Behaviors in C-Trip, a Chinese Online Travel Community(2009) Elliot, Statia; Choi, Chris; Li, GuoxinOnline communities have become a popular and influential venue for tourism information sharing, yet little is known about membership behavior. The purpose of this study is to test a new model of online travel community beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. The model integrates measures proven in traditional consumer behavior theory such as satisfaction, trust and brand attitude, with behavioral measures unique to the online domain, such as stickiness. The results of an online survey of 145 members of C-Trip, a Chinese online community, indicate that the quality of the community significantly influences member satisfaction and trust. However, trust does not influence site stickiness or intention to transact. It is member satisfaction that significantly influences site stickiness, and in turn stickiness influences intention to transact. The relationship from online community quality, to member satisfaction, to stickiness, to transaction suggests a service blueprint for site operators to follow.Publication Why Do People Travel to Nature Based Tourism Destinations?(2009) Li, Chieh-LuNature-based tourism destinations provide tourists low density tourism experience. Evidence shows that perceptions of crowding are one of the determinators for visitors to nature-based tourism areas. Also, marketing factors, such as perceptions of service quality, are important to influence visitors’ subsequent behaviors. The perceptions of crowding and service quality are supposed to affect visitors’ behavioral intentions. On the other hand, taking from the perspectives of cultural anthropology and service marketing, I argue that behavioral intentions are also influenced by values. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to test a behavioral intentions model of nature-based tourism visitors that include three constructs: values (cultural anthropology factor), perceptions of service quality (service marketing factors), and perceptions of crowding (natural resource tourism factor). In 2007-2008, the visitors to Taroko National Park in Taiwan were surveyed. I used an on-site sampling approach. Overall, I obtained 1080 usable questionnaires. The results showed that values and service quality dimensions as well as crowding and behavioral intentions indices demonstrated acceptable reliability of measures. Multiple regression analysis was used to test the predictive power of values dimensions, service quality dimensions and crowding index on behavioral intentions index. The result showed that the multiple regression model was significant at the 0.001 level, and the adjusted R-square equaled 0.50. The findings provide implications for visitor management and research in nature-based tourism.Publication Weather Risk Management in Ski Resorts: Exploring the Effect of Geographical Diversification on Financial Hedging(2009) Tang, Chun-Hung (Hugo); Jang, SooCheong (Shawn)In this study, the authors examine the effect of geographical diversification on risk exposure to snowfall risk and the hedging effectiveness of hypothetical snowfall forwards. The graphical simulation of the model based on a hypothetical two-property ski resort suggests that, from a risk reduction point of view, the “best” property to be acquired would be the one whose basis is positively correlated with the existing basis and negatively correlated with the existing snowfall. The “best” property is the property that allows the hedging in place to reach the highest hedging effectiveness.Publication Using Travel Activities to Segment the Market for Travel: The Case of First-Time Visitors(2009) Hennessey, Sean M; Yun, Dongkoo; MacDonald, RobertaThe main purpose of the study is to examine the relevance and significance of market segmentation based on the activities visitors engage in while at a destination. In doing so, the paper attempts to segment first-time pleasure travellers and profile the market by tiprelated characteristics. This paper is based on a subset of 1,104 first-time visitors to Prince Edward Island (PEI) in main season (July and August 2007). This study found that three distinct segments of first-time visitors exist: “culture-seeking,” “active,” and “other interest” tourists. In addition, the study identifies that cultural themes are an important factor for a significant portion of tourists visiting PEI and demonstrates that these culture-seekers are valuable in terms of their economic contribution to the destination and cultural/social interaction with communitiesPublication Using Consumer Behavior Scales to Examine the Persuasiveness of Travel Narratives(2009) Rozier, Samantha; Santos, Carla A.Currently, an understanding of how travelers process promotional travel-related narratives or information sources is lacking in tourism literature. Moreover, when examined in the context of tourism, promotional narratives have been largely examined by literary and history scholars from a more critical standpoint where, in short, conclusions often assume the narratives examined possess a certain level of persuasive power. As such, the purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the general persuasive power of travel narratives. To do so, the study incorporated two consumer behavior scales, Green and Brock’s (2000) Transportation scale, as well as Obermiller and Spangenberg’s (1988) Skepticism Toward Advertising scale (SKEP), to measure individuals processing of travel narratives, as well as their perceived level of skepticism towards travel narratives presented in two different formats—travel articles and travel brochures. The utilization of these consumer behavior scales allowed for an examination of the degree to which presentation format, message cue, skepticism towards travel articles, and skepticism towards travel brochures influenced participants’ narrative transportation. Additionally, the relationship between participants’ skepticism towards travel articles and travel brochures was examined.Publication NONRESIDENT TRAVEL PATTERNS BETWEEN GLACIER AND YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARKS(2009) Nickerson, Norma P.; Bosak, Keith; Zaret, KylaThe purpose of this study was to analyze travel routes taken by nonresident visitors to Montana who visited both Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks in one trip and to compare those patterns to multidestination travel patterns suggested by previous research. Additionally, the concept of distance decay was analyzed for these travelers. Results confirm previous research on travel patterns with an additional undiscovered pattern. Results did not confirm a distance decay finding but rather suggest that attractions at the sight such as national parks overcome the barrier of distance.Publication User-Generated Videos in Tourism Destination Marketing: Using Narrative Analysis to Deconstruct Video Travel Stories(2009) Elliot, StatiaThe social media phenomenon has impacted travel and tourism marketing, creating new and exciting paths for destination promotion, and blurring the traditional roles of destinations as message producers, and consumers as message receivers. The goal of this paper is to explore the transition to C2C marketing, and to present a case study analysis of user-generated video in tourism destination promotion. This form of video story-telling calls for a new method of market research. Narrative analysis is applied.Publication The Role of Visitors’ Sports Attachment on Olympic Tourism Experience(2009) Meng, Fang; Gu, Huimin; Li, Xiang (Robert)This study intends to examine Olympic tourists’ consumption experience by taking account of the visitors’ sports attachment. A total of 486 completed and usable surveys were collected during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. The results indicated that sports attachment served as an important factor which may influence Olympic tourists’ destination perception and their overall experience. Olympic tourists with higher degree of sports attachment were more motivated to travel and attend the Games, and had better destination image of the host city than those who had lower level of sports attachment. In addition, they tended to reflect a better Olympic experience and were more likely to have repeat visitation to the host city in the future. When combined with the effect of the demographics, sports attachment was the primary driving force that influences the variation of visitors’ experience evaluation. The study provided insights of the relative importance of Olympic visitors’ own emotional involvement of sports and athletes/teams on their judgment of the total experience.Publication Tourism Product Involvement and Information Search(2009) Andereck, Kathleen L.One of the major factors influencing consumer decisions to purchase a product or service is information sources about the product or service. Awareness of a particular product or service and resulting purchase decisions largely depend on the information consumers are able to gather and the credibility of such information. Often, purchase decisions that are considered risky or about which consumers have more uncertainty result in information search. Travel purchase decisions generally have attributes that encourage consumers to engage in information search. Numerous factors may influence a consumer's information seeking behavior. Several researchers suggest one factor influencing information search is a consumer’s level of product involvement. This purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between product involvement and information search with respect to a tourism destination. A survey was conducted with prospective travelers to a destination in the U.S. Results suggest there is a relationship between involvement and information search, with more involved travelers having an interest in more information about a destination.Publication Themes, relationships and trends in North American tourism research: A co-citation analysis of three leading journals (1996-2007)(2009) Benckendorff, Pierre J.The evaluation of research output and performance is becoming increasingly common as the field of tourism matures. This paper builds on the evaluative bibliometric work which has dominated the tourism literature by adopting a relational approach to provide insights into the intellectual structure of tourism research in North America. The study presents citation and co-citation analyses of papers authored by North American researchers in Annals of Tourism Research, JTR and Tourism Management between 1996 and 2007. A general picture of the field is drawn by examining the mostcited authors and works as well as co-citation patterns. The analysis is extended by the use of network analysis to explore the links between title words and influential works in the field. The paper also addresses the conference theme by identifying emerging themes and influences in tourism research. Results indicate that tourism research in North America has been strongly influenced by sociology and anthropology, geography, behavioural psychology and marketing. The study also identifies three major clusters or research focus: tourism and community impacts, destination image, and tourism as a socio-cultural phenomenon.Publication A Postcard from the Village: Using Reflexive Photography as a Means of Developing Tourism(2009) Cahyanto, Ignatius P; Pennington-Gray, Lori; Thapa, BrijeshThis study employed reflexive photography to gain information about themes that residents desired to share with visitors as a component of planning tourism. The use of photographs was grounded in the reciprocal context in which photographs would reflect residents’ perceptions of their daily life. The study was conducted in the village of Sambi, Indonesia, in June-July, 2007. Twenty-eight residents were issued single use cameras and were asked to take pictures of things, places, people, or anything else that they deemed important to them in their village that they desired to share with visitors. The photographs were developed and interviews were conducted to elicit information about the pictures they took. Data analysis used both photographs and quotes from interviews. The study used an inductive thematic approach to analyze the data. The study found five major themes that participants desired to share with visitors. Those themes were rural way of life, environmental features, built structures, people, traditional ceremonies and arts. The study recommended that the development of tourism in the village of Sambi should be based on the identified themes as well as the operationalization of those themes. The application included designing routes to connect all themes. The method showed that photographs could facilitate to bridge the cultural distance between local communities and the tourism planners which often became an issue in tourism planning.Publication The relationship of Social Interactions and Satisfaction for Agritourism Service Encounters(2009) Choo, Hyungsuk; Petrick, James F.This study suggests that four types of visitors’ social interactions exist in agritourismwith service providers (farmers), companion travelers, other customers, and local residents, based on social exchange theory and resource theory, addressing how those affect satisfaction. Of these interactions, the first interaction has been extensively examined with respect to its effect on positive post-purchase behaviors as it is often deemed more controllable than other types of interactions. However, all interactions or relationships at service encounters can individually or in combination, positively influence post-purchase behaviors, although it is often difficult to untangle their effects. By incorporating multiple observable relationships associated with service delivery specific to agritourism settings, this study will provide insight into service encounter research applicable to small-scale enterprises which predominate agritourism operations. A survey of 400 visitors to farms located in Texas reveals that most of hypotheses are supported.Publication The effect of tourism growth on economic growth: A quantile regression analysis(2009) Kuang, Tzu; Tsai, Yi-FanThis paper employs a quantile regression approach to test the effects of tourism growth on economic growth at the different conditional economic growth distribution from 1965 to 2005 in Taiwan. The key finding of this study is that tourism growth has a positive effect on economic growth at the top end of distribution (0.3 to 0.9 quantiles) of economic growth in Taiwan. However, tourism growth has no significant effect on economic growth at the low end of distribution (0.1 to 0.2 quantiles) of economic growth. The contribution of this study lies in providing empirical evidence to demonstrate that whether tourism growth will affect economic growth depends on the conditional distribution of economic growth.Publication Scale Development and Factor Structure Confirmation of Constructs within Durkheim’s Theoretical Framework of Emotional Solidarity(2009) Woosnam, Kyle M.; Norman, William C.The purpose of this study is to develop and validate scales corresponding to the constructs in Durkheim’s theoretical framework of emotional solidarity. Following two initial stage of pilot testing, each scale was included in an onsite self-administered survey instrument and distributed to approximately 700 homes in a coastal South Carolina county. Psychometric properties were assessed and each scale was found to be high in internal consistency and construct validity (i.e., convergent and discriminant validity). Practical and theoretical implications are discussed as well as potential research opportunities concerning emotional solidarity.Publication Seeking Serious Tourists – Balancing Culture, Conservation and Economic Gains from Aboriginal Tourism(2009) Wu, Tsung-chung (Emily); Hsieh, Yuan-lingEthnic culture, often complemented by attractive relatively natural environments, is the core tourism attraction for indigenous areas. With the rise of aboriginal tourism, many regions with indigenous people intend to reform their economies by introducing tourism development. However, some places where this has occurred have exhibited adverse consequences, such as the breaking up of conventional social/cultural norms and distortion of unique ethnic cultures. Thus, it is critical to establish an approach to development that can satisfy both cultural and economic concerns to achieve sustainable development in aboriginal regions. Based on serious leisure theory, it is proposed that serious travelers can contribute offer enhanced prospects of contributing to aboriginal communities in terms of both economic gains and cultural conservations. The idea is assessed in the context of aboriginal community in Taiwan and the empirical findings mostly verify the above claims. Serious aboriginal tourists express their support for ethnic culture with real spending on culture-related products and services. Likewise, serious aboriginal travelers reveal their passions for ethnic culture by demanding more cultural experiences and, more willingly donate for aboriginal cultural conservation. Thus, it is suggested that, aboriginal destinations should cater more to the serious traveler market to make sustainable development possible.