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Publication Visitor Learning: In the Polar Bear Capital of the World(2018-05-28) Bueddefeld, Jill; Van Winkle, Christine; Benbow, MaryThis paper will discuss the visitor experience, design, and measurement when comparing in-situ and ex-situ nature-based tourism case studies. Particularly, this presentation will address the methods used to learn more about the social dynamics that help facilitate visitor learning and how to plan for particular types of visitor experiences. This research will also discuss the effect of place, authenticity and the importance of sustainable and responsible tourism in experiential visitor learning. Tourism to ecologically sensitive areas, such as the Canadian Arctic, is often regarded as a way for people to learn about environmental issues such as climate change, as well as connect with and care about remote polar communities, the northern environment and the people that live there (Ballantyne & Packer, 2005; Falk, Ballantyne, Packer, & Benckendorff, 2012). However, travel to in-situ destinations that are remote or ecologically sensitive is frequently critiqued as exacerbating environmental problems due to the large carbon footprint created in travelling to these locations (Dawson, Stewart, Lemelin, & Scott, 2010; Gossling, 2013). The terms in-situ and ex-situ simply mean on-site and not on-site, respectively. These terms are often used when discussing conservation, as ex-situ sites (such as zoos) and are often argued to be important places for in-situ (such as a conservation area or park) species conservation. In the case of nature-based tourism, there remains the question of the impact of visiting an in-situ destination versus an ex-situ site. As there is little empirical evidence to inform what the differences may exist between these two experiences in relation to environmental education and learning, visitor experience, and impact on the communities. Research is needed to understand these phenomena and inform best practices for both in-situ and ex-situ nature-based tourism experiences. This paper will focus on practical lessons learned from my dissertation research. It will address what kinds of learning were found in the in-situ and ex-situ case studies, and will provide insight into how polar tourism destinations can plan effective visitor experiences that achieve communities’ desired learning outcomes.Publication Economic Impact of Cruise Tourism in Atlantic Canada: Is Cruise Passenger Spending exaggerated?(2018-09-25) Van Blarcom, Brian; Kayahan, Burc; Ross, KleinECONOMIC IMPACT OF CRUISE TOURISM IN ATLANTIC CANADA IS CRUISE PASSENGER SPENDING EXAGGERATED? Introduction Cruise tourism is of increasing importance in Atlantic Canada. Average annual growth during the 1990-2015 period in Halifax was 9.24% (Transport Canada, 2016). Total cruise ship visitors to Halifax has grown tenfold over the last two decades, from approximately 24,000 in 1990 to 238,217 in 2015 (Transport Canada, 2016). The number of cruise ship visitors to Newfoundland & Labrador increased from 10,000 in 2000 to 50,000 in 2015. The growth of cruise tourism in the last decades is accompanied by the expected growth of benefits for the hosting ports. On the surface, it is reasonable to expect the cruise tourism to generate economic benefits emanating from spending by various parties (passengers, cruise lines, tour providers, etc.). However, there is growing evidence that studies supported or done by the cruise industry (e.g., Business Research & Economic Advisors (BREA)/Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA)) which serve as the foundation for assessing the economic benefits of cruise tourism, may be exaggerated. Literature While the cruise industry reported economic impacts are significant, there are deficiencies in such self-reported/commissioned statistics by cruise associations such as BREA and CLIA (Larsen et. Al., 2013; Falkenhaug, 2012; Scarfe, 2011; Klein 2011; Brida and Zappata, 2011). Economic impact estimates reported by the cruise lines suffer from a variety of theoretical and empirical problems. Benefits, computed in the form of tourism spending by passengers, are commonly calculated by taking the average expenditure times the number of passengers. Ports are quick to claim that each cruise passenger spends more than $100 during a port call and then simply deduces that a cruise with 4000 passengers and 2000 crew generates revenue of $6 million (Brida and Zapata, 2010). However, as Stavanger (2012) demonstrates, 20-40% of the passengers do not leave the ship during a stop-over. Using average expenditure values from other studies (ports) is arbitrary, since expenses and their effects will differ depending upon: 1) Type of port function (turn around/port of call), which will impact length of stay, 2) Market segment in terms of ship type, passenger type and nationality, all of which can vary depending upon the time of year, and 3) Attractions/products/services offered in a specific area ( Klein 2011 and Torbianelli 2012). To the extent a data collection strategy of surveying cruise ship passengers and crew fails to account for these factors, the results will be biased and the economic impact results inaccurate. Method This study draws on data collected during the 2016 cruise season in the four major ports in Atlantic Canada (i.e., Halifax, Nova Scotia; Saint John, New Brunswick; Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island; and St. John’s, Newfoundland). Data was subsequently gathered in 2017, however for purposes here we draw mainly on the data for the Port of Halifax in 2016. The Halifax data includes cruise ship passengers visiting the port of Halifax between April 30th and October 28th. A total of 2,205 surveys were collected from 100 (75%) of the 133 cruise ships that visited the port. Passengers were randomly surveyed at the port area beginning 2 hours after the ship’s arrival and continuing until 1 hour before the ship’s departure. The 23 cruise lines visiting the port were divided for purposes of analysis into four groups; the Halifax Port Authority concurred with the categories. The largest number of passengers (42.5%) are brought by mass market cruises. Close behind are passengers on Premium cruise lines (41%), the remainder is split almost evenly between Luxury cruise lines and European cruise lines. This study attempts to understand the disparity between passenger spending figures produced by cruise industry supported studies, [specifically a 2017 study (2016 data) completed by Business Research & Economic Advisors (BREA)) versus studies undertaken by other, often independent, researchers (specifically our study) for the same geographic (Atlantic Canada)) area. Average spending per person is compared between this study which uses a probability sampling method versus the BREA study issued in April 2017 that did not. A critical element in producing unbiased sample statistics is the degree to which the sample of respondents in the passenger spending survey correspond to the actual universe (all ship arrivals in the year) of cruise ship and cruise passenger visits. The risk of biased results is reduced if the collected sample is representative of the population. In the BREA study, Luxury and European cruise visitors constitute 16.8% of passengers landing in early Season, yet no respondents were drawn from this group. A further bias is introduced by Mass Market visitors making up 42.7% of the cruise passengers in early season yet they are 64.4% of the early season respondents to the BREA survey. In contrast, the data collected in this study is closely aligned with the proportions of cruise vessel visits. Because all cruise ships visiting in the early season were surveyed, the sample we drew was from the universe of cruise ships visiting Halifax and more closely aligns with actual cruise visitor numbers and proportions than those based on the ships sampled in the BREA study. Findings/Results From an economic perspective, the significance of having a biased sample across market segment is made relevant by the fact that passenger spending differed by market segment. Spending was significantly greater for Mass Market cruise visitors ($70.44) than visitors on Premium lines ($60.02), Luxury lines ($57.84) and European lines ($52.79). The effect of oversampling the cruise market category, where spending is highest, is to artificially increase the overall per passenger spending. The BREA’s sampling frame over-represents Mass Market cruise visitors by 50%. At the same time, this market segment spends per passenger 10% more than the population average; more than 15% greater than the Premium lines. There is a cumulative impact of these two conditions, which is likely to bias the derived average spending figure, which is then used as the basis for computing economic impact. The average spending per passenger in this study was $63.57; in the BREA study it was 31.5% higher at $83.84. The significance of this difference in per passenger spending can be illustrated for Halifax (Atlantic Canada’s largest port for cruise visits) which had 220,351 passenger visits in 2016. Using the BREA figure for average spending, total spending would be $18.4 million, using our estimate, total spending would be $14.0 million. The importance of potential factors that may influence the cruise passenger spending in a port are also investigated. More specifically, regression analysis was conducted to investigate the influence of potential explanatory variables on the cruise passenger spending in Halifax using our data from the 2016 cruise season. The dependent variable of the analysis is the per capita passenger spending in Halifax. Of particular interest is that passenger spending is dependent on demographic characteristics, cruise industry segment, precipitation/temperature and port order placement in cruise itinerary. Conclusion The research outlines the importance of using accepted methods of probability sampling. Results otherwise may be inaccurate and mislead per passenger spending. As shown, the sample of ships included in BREA’s study of passenger spending in Halifax overstated by 31.5% the amount spent. Our data suggests this is caused by oversampling mass market cruise passengers, who comparatively spend significantly more than all other cruise passengers visiting Halifax. The inflated number is then used in determining economic impact, which consequently is an overstatement. Finally, the regression analysis shows that passenger spending is influenced by socio-economic/demographic/weather/itinerary related variables. A cleared understanding of the variables driving visitors spending could allow ports to adopt strategies that can maximize the local economic benefits. The provision of benchmark data enables assessment of current and future policies related to cruise tourism. An economic perspective is important to the development and management of tourism resources and can play a key role in driving tourism initiatives that balance economic/social/cultural benefits and costs. References BREA. (2017). The Economic Contribution of the International Cruise Industry in Canada A Survey-based Analysis of the Impacts of Passenger, Crew and Cruise Line Spending (Accessed July 10, 2017) Brida, J.G., and Zapata, S. (2011). Cruise Tourism: Economic, Socio-cultural and Environmental impacts. International Journal of Leisure and Tourism Marketing, 1(3), 205-226. Falkenhaug, J. (2012). Where would we have been without cruise ships.? Retrieved from: https://web.retriever-info.com/services/archive.html?method=displayDocument&documentd=0200212120120827799347&serviceId=2 Klein, R.A. (2011). Responsible Cruise Tourism: Issues of Cruise Tourism and Sustainability. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 18, 107–116. Larsen, S., Wolff, K. Marnburg, E. and Ogaard, T. (2013). Tourism Management Perspectives. 6, 142-148. Scarfe, B.L. (2011). Victoria as a Port-of-Call: The Costs and Benefits of Cruise Ship Visits. A report prepared for the James Bay Neighbourhood Association. Stavanger, Aftenblad (2012). Butikkene kan takke cruiseturistene for 3 millioner kroner. Retrived from http://www.aftenbladet.no/nyheter/lokalt/stavanger/Butikkene-kantakke-cruiseturistene-for-3-millioner-kroner-2942999.html Torbianelli, V. (2012). The local economic impact of cruises: From figures to the active policies of the European harbor cities. Scientific Journal of Maritime Research, 1, 139-150. Transport Canada Press Release, October 26, 2016). IPublication The Influence of Tourism and Amenities on Place Attachment and Entrepreneurship in Remote Communities: A Case Study of Tofino, BC(2018-09-26) Kumar, Sreya; Vaugeois, Nicole L.This study was undertaken to provide a better understanding new migrant entrepreneurs and what attracts them to rural and remote communities. Conducted as a case study in Tofino, the study was done using mixed methods including content analysis of place based promotional tools and semi-structured interviews with a sample of new migrant entrepreneurs who had moved to the community within the past 15 years . The study found that although there were no specific place promotion efforts directed at attracting entrepreneurs, businesses were often established as an indirect outcome of promotional efforts aimed at attracting tourists via destination marketing organizations. The entrepreneurs interviewed had not planned to establish a business from the outset; rather, the decision to start their business resulted due to the attractive capacity of the amenities in the community and the place attachment they developed which fueled their desire to remain in the community to experience the quality of life afforded by natural and cultural amenities. These findings provide valuable contributions to the literature as they expand and clarify the influential role of tourism promotion in economic development.Publication Destination Place-making through the Sensuous Stories of Travel Books(2018-06-01) McClinchey, Kelley APublication Addressing the homogeneity dilemma by customizing tourism development supports for rural regions using the typology of tourism dependence(2018-09-26) Vaugeois, Nicole L.Despite the general tendency to generalize about rural areas, they are not homogenous. Programs to support development in rural areas often tend to assume homogeneity and as such, they are often created in a “one-size fits all” approach for application by communities. This paper advocates for more customized program supports that take into account the specific needs of destinations at all stages of development. The paper presents a typology of tourism dependence that classifies rural communities into three types differentiated on their level of engagement in tourism including tourism desperate, tourism active and tourism saturated communities. The typology was based on a decade of field research within British Columbia and builds on Smith and Krannich’s (1998) hypothesis of tourism dependence and Hunt and Stronza’s (2014) addition of early stages to Butler’s (1989) Tourism Area Lifecycle model. This typology includes a description of each type and proposes a set of supports to enable sustainable tourism development.Publication Enhancing Visitors Experiences at Artisan Businesses: A Case Study of the Économusée® Business Model In British Columbia(2018-09-01) Predyk, John; Vaugeois, Nicole L.ÉCONOMUSÉE© is a non-profit organization founded in 1992 in Quebec, Canada which now includes over 70 Artisans from across Canada and Europe. The model promotes the preservation of traditional knowledge and local entrepreneurship by utilizing cultural tourism to showcase artisans and encourage the consumption of locally produced artisanal products. This study was completed in order to provide data on the growth and effectiveness of the ÉCONOMUSÉE program in British Columbia since it was first introduced in 2012. This paper highlights the results of the impact of the model on overall visitor experience. At this point in time, it appears that there are several positive indicators of success for the ÉCONOMUSÉE model. Visitors rated their experience at the sites very positively, particularly due to components of the model such as the boutiques and welcoming areas. Of the sites that were able to provide data on visitor levels, all saw an increase in visitation post- ÉCONOMUSÉE. Visitor experience was extremely positive and there was high repeat visitation levels at sites. This could be an indicator of potential for increased visitation, particularly due to the current reliance on word of mouth marketing. Although it is unclear to what extent visitors are viewing the education or interpretive elements as core to their experience, as the ÉCONOMUSÉE model becomes more familiar in the region, the recognition and value of the interpretive aspects of the business should increase. A little over half of visitors were from outside the region and stayed overnight, with most staying several nights, generating additional economic opportunity for accommodation providers in the region. The evidence provides justification for investment in the model and support for continuing to expand the model within British Columbia and across Canada.Publication How would a climate change interpretive program impact visitors’ leisure experiences? Evidence from a lab-based experiment(2018-09-25) He, Mu; Hinch, Tom; Halpenny, ElizabethPublication Tourists’ level of awareness and perceptions of the impacts of tourism in Lake Titicaca, Peru(2018-09-25) Wright, Kelly-Ann; Dodds, Rachel; Dimanche, FredericThe indigenous communities of Taquile and Amantani in Lake Titicaca, Peru, once sole players in the tourism industry they developed, have lost control of tourism activities to external tour operators. This study sought to understand tourists’ level of awareness of and perception regarding sustainable tourism impacts within Lake Titicaca, Peru, through a quantitative study of 125 respondents. The findings showed that the consumer demands and behaviour of tourists is a contributing factor to the rise in mass day-tourism and the reduced economic benefits to communities in Lake Titicaca. Tourists were also willing to pay more to ensure community development in the region but do not believe that they are responsible for the negative economic impacts in Lake Titicaca.Publication Going Mobile: Outcomes of Device Use During a Festival Experience(2018-06-01) Van Winkle, Christine; Bueddefeld, Jill; Halpenny, Elizabeth; MacKay, KellyPublication Multi-Dimensional Explorations into Visitors’ Experience Sharing through TripAdvisor Using Social Media Analytics: An Investigation on Jasper National Park(2018-07-15) Mirzaalian, Farshid; Halpenny, Elizabeth; Pourabedin, PariyaUser-generated content have been studied a lot in hospitality and tourism, however, existing studies tend to consider short samples which affects generalizability features of social media analytics research. The current study tries to examine the whole existing data on nature and park attractions of a specific destination on TripAdvisor (TA), the so-called big data. Big data analytics is a rising research paradigm that uses various data sources and analytical tools such as natural language processing and Web textual mining tools to make inferences and predictions about reality. By targeting Jasper Nation Park, around 13 K English online reviews about the natural attractions and park areas of this outdoor destination was collected, and some analytical methods such as semantic and sentiment analysis were applied on the existing corpus. Using a Latent Dirichlet Allocation topic modeling method, five major topics of visitors’ experience sharing were identified as: Place, Trekking, Value, Landmarks, and Watershed. Also, results of the sentiment analysis show a high percentage of positive opinion among the reviewers (68%). This study will be of interest to the both academic and industrial realms, and helps to have a better understanding of visitor’s experience sharing behaviors in online travel communities.Publication Inhibitors of Success in Interorganizational Collaboration in Tourism Context and Best Practices to Face Them(2018-10-01) Bourdages, ÉmiliePublication Eat Well And Look Up At The Stars: Deconstructing The Environmental Discourses Of A Residential Summer Camp's Canoe Trips Through Algonquin Park(2018-05-04) Pludwinski, Brandon; Grimwood, BryanAlgonquin Park was established in 1893, making it the oldest provincial park in Canada, and is just over 7,350 km2. There are over 1,200 campsites that can be booked out by various individual, groups, tour companies, organizations, and summer camps. As a result, Algonquin Park has become a massive tourism hub that hosts over 830, 000 visitors a year (Ontario Parks, 2010). While being used by summer camps, those that travel through the land enact an environmental ethic that encourages them to think of the landscapes as pristine nature spaces that have traditionally existed outside of the human cultural, social, and political realm (Cronon, 1996). An issue with the pristine discourse is that it labels landscapes as areas where people have not, cannot, and will never be able to occupy, erasing the peoples’ existence from their traditional lands and it reimages the park as a space exclusive to the tourism experience and the tourism narratives that those with power wish to convey (Baker, 2002; Braun, 2002). This presentation, based on an MA thesis project, focuses on the environmental discourses that are produced, conveyed, and relayed from summer camp counsellors to their campers while on canoe trips through Algonquin Park. The research encourages summer camp counsellors to further consider, critique, and deconstruct the social legacies and impacts the narratives they tell their campers have.Publication Community ownership in winter recreation and tourism: Ski hills and club fields(2018-09-25) Morellato, MassimoThe winter recreation is facing several challenges in navigating the evolving trends and issues related to climate change, demographic patterns, falling demand and ways in which experiences are constructed and consumed. This work presents findings from the ongoing research on ski tourism experiences and ski area management with cases outside the main stream of the snow industry. Building new demand for skiing does not necessarily mean pursuing and replicating the pro-growth approach widely employed in the history of mountain resorts. Several ski hills in Northern BC as well as club fields in New Zealand provide examples of old and new approaches where the local community is involved in the “factory” of recreational value following a more sustainable development. In some cases, the local identity and the social relationships are also wrought around the snow, and this seems to create what locals and visitors perceive as a more “authentic and friendly atmosphere”. Little ski hills are the playgrounds for people who live and work a few hours away and they have a crucial role to play in the policies for amenity retention in remote areas and towns. Ski hills and club fields are also nurturing the next generations of skiers and snow boarders. Furthermore, ski hills are attracting savvy ski tourists who are willing to travel further a field to destinations that can guarantee snow and offer individual experiences in connection with locals (lived “like locals”). The analysis of six ski areas in the Northern BC and seven in New Zealand spans across different management models: non-profit, for-profit, hybrid organizations, but also family owned ski hills. Findings show the significance of associative and co-operative management models in stimulating a high level of engagement that could also lead to an effective and liveable community ownership. The incorporation of leisure associations into “community service co-operative” entities allows individual and corporate memberships as potential sources of funding as well as the opportunity to compete for public funds. Other places in BC and internationally have been recently watching this management model with interest. However, the adoption of a certain management model is not per se a sufficient condition for future success. Owners and managers of ski hills need to also understand factors for recruiting talents, retaining volunteers, accessing resources amongst a variety of different stakeholders, and ultimately ensuring long term resilience (of a place). The final part of the presentation focuses on the crucial role of the research in the development of winter recreation and tourism.Publication Assessing the Determinants of Cross-Border Traveler Flows between Canada and the United States(2018-09-20) Armenski, Tanja; Clarke, SeanCanada and the US border accommodate the greatest portion of international cross-border traffic. Given its magnitude, the cross-border traffic is important for the national economies of both countries. There are, however, a number of factors that determine the volume of cross-border traffic. This paper examines a number of economic, socioeconomic, and geopolitical determinants and their impact on the Canada-US car traffic between 2000 and 2017. Data are drawn from Frontier Counts. This is a database built by Statistics Canada from an extraction of administrative files comprising same-day and overnight car trips collected by Canadian Border Service Agency (CBSA). To explain the variations in cross-border travel, Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) models with economic variables such as the exchange rate, the gasoline prices, unemployment, and income were used. In addition to economic conditions, events such as 9/11 and the initiatives for increased border safety and security are taken into account. While the relationship between examined variables and the cross-border travel is complex and intertwined, a number of key conclusions can be drawn.Publication Travel Purposes and Preferences of Albertan Tourists Visiting British Columbia(2018-04-07) Saunderson, FlynnTravel Purposes and Preferences of Albertan Tourists Visiting British Columbia Keywords: British Columbia, Travel Purposes, Travel Preferences, Albertan Tourists, Trip Spending, Travel Activities In British Columbia tourism is one of the largest economic contributor injecting 7.9 billion dollars into BC’s economy (Destination BC, 2018). Looking across Canada to see which province travels the most to British Columbia it’s clear that Alberta outnumbers others with 65% of travelers coming from Alberta to BC with the exclusion of BC itself (Statistics Canada, 2017). This research examines the activities engaged in, purposes for travel to major metropolitan areas, and trip spending details. The top three activities that Albertan tourists engaged in were to go to beaches, visiting friends and relatives, and visiting a national/provincial or nature park. Conversely, the least engaged in activities were going snowmobiling, going ATVing, and attending an aboriginal event as well as going hunting. Examination showed that Albertans tend to travel for leisure more than to visit friends and relatives or business. When analyzing major metropolitan areas, Vancouver and Victoria saw a fairly healthy distribution of people traveling for either business, leisure travel or to visit friends and relatives. Abbotsford saw the majority of travelers arrive in order to visiting friends and relatives. All other areas outside of metropolitan areas saw the greatest distribution of travelers visiting for leisure. Trip spending was higher with individuals traveling for leisure rather than to visit friends and relatives. 50% of Albertans spent at least $550 on their trip and 20% spent at least $1070. References Destination B.C. (2018). Value of Tourism 2016. Retrieved March 21, 2018, from https://www.destinationbc.ca/getattachment/Research/Industry-Performance/Value-of- Tourism/Value-of-Tourism-in-British-Columbia-A-Snapsho-(2)/Value-of-Tourism-2016- Snapshot_FINAL.pdf.aspx Statistics Canada (2017). Travel Survey of Residents of Canada. Retrieved from http://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p3Instr.pl?Function=assembleInstrPublication Restaurants Going Local: Motivations and Challenges for Sourcing Local Food(2018-05-18) Holmes, Mark Robert; Dodds, Rachel; Pranjic, Katarina; Krecisz, Jessica; Taylor, HannahVisitors to destinations are frequently looking to partake of the local fare when travelling, either away from home or to another country (CRFA, 2016). Couple this with the local food movement and the increasing propensity for sustainable travel (Dodds and Holmes, 2017; Loureiro and Umberger, 2005), it begs the question of why restaurants might look towards sourcing locally and the barriers they face. This paper looks to investigate the greatest motivations for restaurants to implement local food in regard food quality, guest interests and appreciation, and social and environmental justice. As well, looking to gain an understanding of the barriers they face and strategies they use to overcome these barriers. This study also considers the wider sustainability implications of using local food. By focusing on how current restaurants can utilize local food, and mitigate barriers to achieving such outcomes, locations can begin to increase the representation of local food on menus. It is also useful to understand restaurants opinions on offerings such as local food to consumers from a Canadian context. By looking to have restaurants increase their use of local ingredients, destinations can improve regional economic development all the while providing the tourist with greater opportunity to experience what the local terroir has to offer.Publication Investigating the Role of Social Return on the Understanding of Craft Brewery Visitors in British Columbia, Canada(2018-09-01) Bachman, Jarrett; Hull, John SContributing to the Conference Theme: The role of social media in the development of Canada as a destination has been widely discussed locally, regionally, provincially, and federally. This research examines the role of using social media using a newly developed mechanism by which to consider how the use of social media relates to social involvement, memories, loyalty, place attachment, and authenticity. The context for this research is craft brewery tourism, one of the fastest growing aspects of tourism in many provinces. This abstract directly relates to multiple themes and sub-themes of the conference, including “Visitor experience design and measurement,” “Marketing and place promotion strategies and techniques,” and “Consumer demand for authentic places and experiences.”Publication Keep Exploring, Sharing, and Tweeting: Connecting Millennials, Social Media and Destination Canada’s Brand(2018-10-01) Lever, Michael; Mulvey, Michael S; Elliot, StatiaSocial media has become a powerful influencer in its ability to sway customer intentions and behaviors in an online setting. Given the importance of social media and its users in acting as information spreaders and disseminators, particularly in the context of global tourism, the goal of this research is to profile and/or understand youth travellers within the context of their social media behaviour. Using latent class analysis which helps to identify unobserved subgroups within a population, this study utilizes the rich dataset offered by Destination Canada which gives valuable traveler-focused information across the globe, including Brazil, China, Australia, Germany, South Korea, United Kingdom, and more. The results of this quantitative analysis reveal important differences based on age, explorer types and lifestyles, and geographic location as it relates to Canadian travel behaviors. By understanding what motivates these millennial-aged travelers particularly, destinations can create an environment where their actions are better anticipated and encouraged. The contribution of this original research is an empirically-informed view of how travelers share their experiences via social media.Publication ADOPTION OF SELF-SERVICE KIOSKS IN QUICK-SERVICE RESTAURANTS(2018-05-11) Rastegar, Melody; Flaherty, Joan; Choi, Hwan-Suk ChrisThis study investigated the factors that influence the customer’s decision to use a self-service kiosk (SSK) in quick service restaurants (QSRs.)Specifically, an integrated model incorporating Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Satisfaction model was developed to examine the relationship among trust, self-efficacy, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment, perceived value, satisfaction and behavioral intention toward using these kiosks in QSRs.In addition, the moderating impact of age, gender and past experience using SSKs was examined. Structural equation modeling and multiple regression analyses were applied for data analysis. The results indicate that (a) continued intention was directly influenced by customer satisfaction; (b) intrinsic motivation (Perceived enjoyment) strongly influenced customer satisfaction, while extrinsic motivations (perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use) did not influence customer satisfaction; (c) self-efficacy had a more significant impact on intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivations than trust; and (d) no moderating effects were found between TAM constructs and Satisfaction model constructs. These findings provide theoretical and practical implications for future studies and QSR managers who are considering or have already adopted SSKs.Publication THE TWO YEAR TOURIST AND LIFESTYLE MIGRATION IN WHISTLER BC(2018-05-23) Pavelka, Joe PLifestyle migration occurs in many forms and this research explores the experience of daily life for a group of lifestyle migrants in Whistler BC Canada who also make a critical labour cohort. Unlike transient tourism workers this group is intent on long term residence in the area but encounters numerous structural challenges. This qualitative research highlights the motivations and challenges of this group with implications for the social sustainability of the Whistler resort community.