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Publication What are Forbes Five-star Hotels’ Crisis Response Strategies to Retain Customers in Tokyo amid the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2021?(2022) Nakai, AyakoThis study investigated all the Forbes five-star hotels’ crisis response strategies in Tokyo for retaining guests amid the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. The official websites and Instagram accounts of the hotels were collected from January 2021 to 2022. The author stayed at each of the examined hotels for a night. Five strategies are discovered: (1) excellent hygiene and safety qualities confirmed by a third party, (2) collaboration with other brands, (3) exclusive afternoon tea experience with personalized service, (4) all-inclusive hotel stay package plan, and (5) a dog stay program. In 2021, the hotels received health security verification from Forbes Travel Guide, initiated collaborations (such as ryokans), and introduced an all-inclusive stay plan such as cruises, breathtaking afternoon tea with a flower bouquet according to each guest’s taste, and dog-friendly stay plans. These strategies enabled guests to fulfill their interests and drove their decision to stay, even during the pandemic.Publication DMOs and Community Resilience During the COVID-19 Pandemic(2022) Jeong, Miyoung; Jeon, Myunghee Mindy; Lee, Seonjeong Ally; Shin, Hyejo HaileyThis study examined what roles DMOs have played to respond adaptively to the COVID-19 pandemic, while continually supporting and sustaining tourism activities and businesses in the destination. A mixed-methods approach was used to identify DMOs’ primary roles and their relationships with responses to the pandemic and resilience activities to sustain their destination. Semi-structured online interviews with DMO’s CEOs identified the four primary roles of DMOs during the pandemic—communications, marketing, support to local tourism businesses, and crisis responsibility. A nation-wide survey was conducted with DMOs professionals in the U.S. The findings of the study showed that communication significantly affected DMOs’ responses to the pandemic, and DMOs adaptive responses positively influenced the community resilience in the destination. Results of the multi-group analysis indicated significant differences between severe and less severe destinations in the proposed relationships. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed, followed by the study’s limitations and suggestions for future research. Keywords: Destination Marketing Organization (DMO); Roles of DMOs; COVID-19; Community Resilience; Mixed-MethodPublication The Tyrolian Way: Developing a Sustainable Tourism Policy(2022) Wegerer, Philipp; Mitterer-Leitner, Theresa; Siller, HubertThis research paper takes up the call for a more active role of tourism researchers in tourism policy and planning processes by presenting an action research account on the latest tourism planning and policy process of the region Tyrol, Austria. The findings discuss the results of this process based on the three layers of (1) imaging a tourism vision, (2) developing major guidelines and guiding measures, and (3) defining a multidimensional performance measurement. The methodology details the research and planning process by describing the interventions, workshops, and data-gathering approaches. The contribution outlines how researchers can engage and contribute to tourism policy and planning processes, and how a policy process can incorporate economic, social, and environmental goals. The discussion provides a critical reflection on the benefits and challenges of a research-led tourism policy process.Publication Safeguarding Caribbean lives and livelihoods for regenerative tourism: Surveying the stringency-resiliency nexus in small island tourism economies(2022) Peterson, Ryan R.While the global economy is recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, the ascent is long and winding, riddled with uncertainty. Caribbean Small Island Tourism Economies (SITES) are in a particularly challenging situation as they weather current conditions and muster the capacity to regenerative tourism. The objective of this study is to explore the relationship between government stringency measures and international reserves as a measure of safeguarding resiliency. The results show that there is a dynamic relationship between stringency and reserve adequacy, which is largely moderated by capital flow management and fiscal support. Contrary to popular belief that there is a tradeoff between preserving livelihoods and saving lives, the findings suggest that there is an optimum level of stringency controls at which point both lives and livelihoods are safeguarded, albeit contingent on swift and coordinated macroeconomic and tourism policy execution, in addition to adequate (pre-crisis) reserve buffers and fiscal space. These findings underscore the importance of structural policies for regenerative tourism within the context of strengthening small island tourism economic resiliency.Publication Transferable Job Skills and their Importance for Hospitality and Tourism Graduates(2022) Smith, Wayne; DIMANCHE, FredericThe hospitality and tourism industry contributes immensely to the economy but can be volatile due to catastrophes such as COVID-19; hence, it is crucial to understand what other sectors are open to hiring hospitality and tourism (HT) graduates and their skills need to succeed in those. This paper aims to understand how having a transferable skillset as an HT graduate can allow individuals to carry their skills from one industry to another. This paper draws results from the LinkedIn profiles of 600 HT North American university graduates, identifying their skillset and the industries in which they are currently employed. The results indicate that HT-educated students are attracted to real estate and educational instructor positions, while the skillset most mentioned are interpersonal, sales, and technology-based skills. Keywords: transferable skills, hospitality graduates, COVID-19Publication Tourists’ visual attention and stress intensity under COVID-19 environmental stimuli: An eye-tracking study(2022) Li, Peizhe; Xiao, Xiao; Jordan, EvanVisual attention elicits focal scenes, facilitates attention restorativeness capacity, and provokes stress appraisal processes for tourists. This study explores tourists’ visual attention and stress appraisals and examines how situational factors (e.g., COVID-preventive measures and natural sound) may affect stress appraisal processes by a mixed-methodology involving observations, eye-tracking experiments, and post-experiment surveys. Findings suggest that tourists’ attention to natural landscape decreases with crowding stimuli. Natural landscape’s attention restoration capacity may influence tourists’ cognitive appraisals of stress when the crowding stimuli were low or medium, but the impacts are minimal when the crowding stimuli were high. Moreover, natural sound can serve as the complementary of visualscape to facilitate tourists’ attention restorativeness capacity and mitigate stress. We suggest that mask-wearing can reduce tourists’ attention to human crowds during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings extend the attention restoration theory by a multi-sensory perspective and the transactional theory of stress through eye-tracking analytics.Publication What makes social media branding more effective in shaping pre-visit image: Information quality or source credibility？(2022) Li, Xinyue; Ma, ShiahanAbstract: Social media branding is increasingly undertaken by small and individual accommodation businesses. Based on the heuristic-systematic model (HSM), this study investigates factors influencing the formation and development of pre-visit images for B&Bs. An experimental design is created for empirical evidence. Study 1 (n=451) features four types of online reviews and aims to test the respective and interactive effects of information quality and source credibility. Results show that information quality plays a more crucial role but source credibility can bias the influence of information quality in special cases. The findings also demonstrate the difference existing in varied genders and generations. Study 2 (n=204) further explores the influence of the four dimensions of information quality. This article extends previous research by investigating three types of effects of HSM in the B&B context and provides practical implications for marketers. Keywords: social media branding; pre-visit image; information quality; source credibility; heuristic-systematic modelPublication The blending of Indigenous and Non-Indigenous knowledge as applied to tourism development and recovery.(2022) Anderson, EleanorThis research examines the role played by Indigenous knowledge in destination tourism planning. Focused on the supply side of the tourism industry and how it might emerge from the recent global pandemic, the goal is to identify insights and creative methods to not only overcome the unprecedented challenges brought on by Covid-19, but to build capacity and strengthen the sector in the longer term. Exploring the contribution of Indigenous knowledge across multiple jurisdictions allows for a broad world view, enhanced understanding of, or barriers to, Indigenous inclusion in tourism decision-making. By studying both Indigenous and non-Indigenous tourism decision-makers and critically analyzing their distinct approaches to tourism planning, a shared learning approach to tourism development can be considered. Both academic and industry sources were examined, seeking examples of progress and/or barriers for Indigenous peoples gaining leadership roles in tourism destination strategy development and decision making.Publication Improving Food Safety Education in Tourism and Hospitality Programs in U.S. Colleges: Empirical Insights from Practitioners(2022) Wen, Han; Liu-Lastres, Bingjie; Vo, Le Bich NgocFood safety education is an essential component in tourism and hospitality programs in U.S. colleges. The importance of food safety has been even highlighted during times of a global pandemic. Guided by a design-thinking approach, this study interviewed 20 managers in the tourism hospitality industry. The results showed that their food safety training practices are influenced by organizational size and type. Additionally, the participants all expected that new employees with a tourism and hospitality management degree are equipped with basic food safety knowledge and awareness of the issue's significance. Lastly, this study provided theoretical and practical implications on improving food safety training in tourism and hospitality programs in U.S. colleges.Publication Learning from the Past to Prepare for the Future: Similarities and Differences Between COVID and SARS for the Hotel Industry in Canada(2022) Holmes, Mark Robert; James, Kevin; Gabriel Alonzo, JoseCOVID 19 has had a significant impact on the Canadian hotel and restaurant sectors. While this was unforeseen by many, it was not unprecedented. Close to two decades before COVID 19 appeared, Ontario had been subject to another pandemic, that of SARS. This paper investigated the differences between these two large-scale events in terms of contexts, degrees of localization, reputational impact, and timeline of the event and recovery, as well as providing lessons that can be derived from both events. To facilitate these understandings, this research draws on both a historical review as well as five industry interviews.Publication Measuring the concept of perceived unfairness of revenue management pricing in the context of hospitality(2022) Meatchi, Sourou; ERICKSON, Danielle LECOINTREThis paper aims to offer a multi-dimensional scale for measuring the concept of perceived unfairness of revenue management pricing (RMP) in the context of hospitality. To develop a measurement scale for the perceived unfairness of RMP, the authors conducted a qualitative and quantitative studies enabling them to identify three dimensions of perceived unfairness of RMP in the context of hospitality: perceived normative deviation, perceived opacity and negative effects. The new scale proposed here is an alternative measurement instrument that could be useful for detecting and correcting some negative aspects of RMP. This measurement scale will help hotel managers to detect potential feelings of unfairness in relation to the RMP policies. It might also be used within the framework of market analyses and pricing strategy plans. Finally, the results of this research show that transparency, fairness and ethics based pricing could help hotel managers increase their revenue-per-available-room during and post COVID-19 pandemic. This research develops a complete measurement scale for perceived unfairness of RMP, including cognitive and affective dimensions. The richness of this scale will help hospitality companies effectively identify the indicators that denote perceived unfairness of RMP, making them better equipped to handle customer dissatisfaction.Publication Relationships among travel, social and occupational participation, and life satisfaction for people with mobility disability: A longitudinal analysis(2022) Cole, Shu; Wang, Zikun; Hua, Chenggang; Chen, ZhongxueAlthough people with mobility disability, such as spinal cord injury (SCI), often report great environmental and attitudinal challenges while traveling, research has found that traveling is important to people with SCI because travel activities may contribute to their social engagement and life satisfaction. Since SCI is a lifelong injury, it is important to better understand the transitions of individuals life following SCI and how factors such as traveling influence the long-term management of SCI, participation in society, and life satisfaction. Using a longitudinal research method, the study identified an increasing pattern of life satisfaction and declining trends of travel, social and occupational participation among 17,143 people with SCI wo registered in the SCI Model Systems from 1996 to 2016. In addition, results of the study suggest travel activities can positively contribute to social and occupation participation of people with SCI and their life satisfaction over time.Publication Research on Flow Experience From the Perspective of Gamification in Virtual Reality Tourism: A Chain Mediation Model(2022) Wei, Zhenda; Qiu, Hanqin; Huang, XiaotingThe study examines how virtual reality tourism experience from a gamification perspective affects tourist flow experience and satisfaction by examining a chain mediation model including arousal, focused attention, enjoyment and time distortion. Gamification was integrated into a long-duration virtual tourism experience (50-60 mins) for 60 participants. The results show that gamification can significantly positively affect arousal in virtual tourism experience. Arousal positively affects focused attention, enjoyment. The influence of arousal on satisfaction could be mediated by focused attention, enjoyment and time distortion. In addition, this paper also found the relationship between the internal elements of flow experience. Focused attention positively affects enjoyment. Enjoyment positively affects satisfaction, which is mediated by time distortion. The findings provide valuable understandings for the research on flow experience in long-duration virtual reality tourism, giving practical implications in the application of gamification and flow experience for destination practitioners.Publication Understanding Factors Influencing Canadians’ travel Knowledge during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Cognitive Mediation Model(2022) Huang, Shuyue; Liang, Lena Jingen; Choi, Hwansuk ChrisDespite an uncertain timeline, it is believed that consumers will regain confidence, and the travel demand should rebound after restrictions are lifted. This study aims to improve Canada’s preparedness to rejuvenate the economy in public health crises by understanding how potential tourists acquire knowledge using the cognitive mediation model (CMM). We examined the impact of media motivations (i.e., surveillance gratification and anticipated interaction) in predicting two types of subjective knowledge (i.e., pandemic knowledge and travel health knowledge) through the mediation of media attention and elaboration, using structural equation modelling (SEM). Study results supported all hypotheses except for the relationships between surveillance gratification and media attention, and media attention and travel health knowledge. Elaboration had the most significant total effects in predicting the two types of knowledge. This study is among the first to apply CMM in the tourism context and provides implications for DMOs and the government to understand the mechanism of Canadians’ travel decisions influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic from the health communication perspective.Publication Development of Accommodation Statistics for Small Regions: Case of Japanese Destination Management Organizations (DMOs)(2022) Shimizu, Tetsuo; Nguyen, Truong VanDevelopment accommodation statistics for small areas have been largely neglected in tourism literature. The challenges are high variance and/or bias of estimates. Therefore, tourism management policies and business strategies for regional tourism areas have not been well supported by good statistics. This study utilizes accommodation data of Japanese DMOs as a case study. Regression is used to compare to a traditional linear estimator. Each estimator is tested with two sampling schemes, namely simple random sampling and clustering sampling. The results demonstrate that the traditional estimation method, which has been utilized widely in tourism literature, failed in developing tourism accommodation statistics for small-scale regions. Integration of regression and clustered sampling scheme made it possible to provide a more accurate estimate, i.e., less bias and variability. The results make the policy formulation process possible for small tourism areas.Publication Fairness in quality service deliver to LGBT guests: the role of organizational norms(2022) Tan, Xiaoyuan; Ka, Xiyan; Tang, Jingyi; Yang, Fang; Wang, Kaiyun; Zhou, Biyue; Ye, ShunDiscrimination from? service personnel against customers (such as the LGBT group) can lead to service unfairness and failure. Based on an extended model of the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), this study aims to explore factors affecting the fairness and quality of hotel frontline staff’s service provision toward LGBT guests. Data were collected from a sample of 599 frontline staff from 17 hotels in two major cities of China. It found that homophobia can jeopardize the staff’s attitude and further reduce their intention to provide quality service to homosexual guests. The level of gaydar, by comparison, can enhance behavioural control and thus may encourage the staff to provide quality service. Organizational norms also exert a moderating effect on the relationship between staff’s attitude toward serving homosexual guests and their service intention, which indicates that the behaviour of employees to provide fair and high-quality services to homosexual guests can be normative.Publication Is Belief A Proprietary /Exclusive Right for Religious Believers? Exploring on Establishing a Real "Belief" System Based on Non-Religion----A Study on the Hotel Companies in China(2022) Sun, Jizhe; He, WeiFor a long time, the word belief/faith has been mostly used in the field of religious and philosophical research, but little work has been done to delve into its real scientific connotation. Existing studies mainly focus on one’s religious belief and have paid little attention to non-religious beliefs, which limits the effectiveness and efficiency of belief-management research. To fill the research gap, this study aims to, through exploring the nature of religion (also described in terms of faith) as experienced in China, develop a construct of faithful leaders, including their thought basis, value orientation, mode of thinking, behavioral and result upgrading method. Through the application of multiple case-study methods, we develop and test a Faithful Leader Conceptual Model that provides a rationale for promoting employee morale and management efficiency in the context of China’s hotel industry.Publication How do travelers go back to COVID-hit destinations? Examining the patterns and underlying motivations(2022) Xiong, Lina; Knight, David W.; Gong, Jian; Zhou, XuanxuanTourist decisions to resume travel to disaster-hit destinations (e.g., pandemic epicenters) represent a crucial but under-analyzed measure of tourism resilience. Addressing this gap, this study identifies patterns in actual return travel behavior to Hubei Province of central China (a former COVID-19 epicenter), focusing on Chinese tourists of differing gender, age and place of origin. Ticket sales from China’s largest online travel agency and long interviews were used to assess these travel recovery patterns in Hubei Province from April to July (2019 and 2020). Data suggested that middle-aged travelers (the 25-50 age group) and travelers from local and farther (as opposed to neighboring) areas were more likely to lead travel recovery in the region. The reasons behind these group distinctions were also revealed. These studies hold implications for effectively managing and theorizing tourism resilience and travel recovery in disaster-hit destinations.Publication The Design and Management of Recreational Trails on Forested Lands Using Eye Tracking Technology(2022) Shen, Ye; Goldenberg, Marni; Kaarakka, Lilli; Yang, HocheolThe management of recreational trails on forested lands needs to reduce the negative impacts of trail users but also meet people’s leisure and recreation needs. Sensory cues (e.g., interpretive signs and trash bins) are one of the management tools that park managers often use to influence visitor behavior. However, how the sensory cues can influence visitor experiences and behaviors has not been investigated adequately. Therefore, this research will use a triangulated approach including eye tracking technology, surveys, and interviews to investigate how visitors view sensory cues and the scenery of the trails. Experimental design will be conducted to examine if the messages on interpretive signs can encourage visitors to pick up litter, dispose of litter properly, and pay attention to potential fire hazards. This research will identify the factors that motivate visitors to have pro-environmental actions. From the practical perspective, it will help to reduce litter and lessen the possibility of human-started wildfires and to enhance hiking experiences.Publication A Sentiment Analysis of User-Generate Contents Proximate to the Polish Rivers(2022) Akhshik, Arash; Strzelecka, Marianna; Tusznio, Joanna; Grodzińska-Jurczak, MałgorzataRivers build societal foundations by connecting people, and places, inspiring various outdoor activities. In this study, We employed sentiment analysis of user generated contents of Instagram to better understand patterns of visits and sentiment expressed in the textual data before and during Covid-19 pandemic in Poland. The results of this study, assist in the articulation of patterns and moods proximate to the river, provides unprecedented practical insight, and illuminate path for further research.