Author Bios (50 Words for each Author)

Leonardo (Don) A.N. Dioko, Ph.d., is Professor at the Institute for Tourism Studies Macao (IFTM) and Director of IFTM’s Tourism Research Center. Since 2003, and formally as Director of ITRC, Don has conducted a considerable number of policy research studies commissioned by the Macao S.A.R. Government or its agencies.

Abstract (150 Words)

The study conceptualizes tourist traps and posits a theoretical framework based on a review of the scant literature available on the topic. The aim of the study is to illuminate how some tourist attractions evolve from being attractions to “tourist traps” and to lay the groundwork for identifying relevant factors underlying the process' nomological network. The study adopts a concept mapping approach to the phenomenon of tourist traps. Data comes from a subset of a sizable corpus of traveler comments mentioning the term “tourist traps” (n=13,934), mined from Tripadvisor.com. Content analysis using natural language processing of the narrative comments reveals some potential correspondence between the hypothesized framework and the emergent empirical observation.

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From Tourist Attractions to Tourist Traps: Laying Theoretical Foundations

The study conceptualizes tourist traps and posits a theoretical framework based on a review of the scant literature available on the topic. The aim of the study is to illuminate how some tourist attractions evolve from being attractions to “tourist traps” and to lay the groundwork for identifying relevant factors underlying the process' nomological network. The study adopts a concept mapping approach to the phenomenon of tourist traps. Data comes from a subset of a sizable corpus of traveler comments mentioning the term “tourist traps” (n=13,934), mined from Tripadvisor.com. Content analysis using natural language processing of the narrative comments reveals some potential correspondence between the hypothesized framework and the emergent empirical observation.