Search results
1 – 10 of 15Destinations are focal points for tourist activity and thus for the study of tourism. They are, however, notoriously difficult to manage due to their complex systems of…
Abstract
Purpose
Destinations are focal points for tourist activity and thus for the study of tourism. They are, however, notoriously difficult to manage due to their complex systems of stakeholders. Such complexity implies that destinations are driven by a wide range of forces in their internal and external environments. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the diversity and depth of the challenges at play in destination management and, in doing so, review the primary contributions in the field.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a "perspective" paper (i.e. critical literature review).
Findings
The study of destinations remains an area of active research interest, with the many challenges that arise from within and external to destinations offering much food for thought with respect to their longevity as viable, sustainable and competitive places for tourists to visit. For the future, the need to view destinations as part of a wider system is paramount with them being inescapable from debates on urban planning, economic inequality, transportation and housing and the omnipresence of all things “smart”. Such debates need to incorporate both tourists and resident communities, as the well-being and quality of life of both groups is under threat in many destinations, particularly heritage and culturally rich city destinations around the world, where the term “overtourism” is increasingly heard.
Research limitations/implications
This study has implications for the integrated and more holistic management of tourist destinations.
Practical implications
This is a "perspective" paper, so it does not offer individual practical implications for destinations. Moreover, it offers a concise and precise summary of core studies in the field and provides a platform for a more future-looking critical debate on the sustainable management of tourist destinations.
Social implications
Looking ahead, destinations need to be considered as part of a wider system, one that is inclusive of urban planning, economic inequality, transportation and housing, and “smart” initiatives among others. Most importantly, the views of tourist and resident communities need to be considered and incorporated into future planning at the destination level with wellbeing and quality of life indicators being used to identify the real benefits of tourism to both communities.
Originality/value
Integrated and holistic forms of destination management is the way forward, with the exponential growth of technology, as well as the need to manage the exchange of knowledge and data at the destination level, critical to the sustainability of the competitive destination long into the future.
Details
Keywords
Erose Sthapit, Chunli Ji, Yang Ping, Catherine Prentice, Brian Garrod and Huijun Yang
Drawing on the theory of memory-dominant logic, this study aims to examine how the substantive staging of the servicescape, experience co-creation, experiential satisfaction and…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing on the theory of memory-dominant logic, this study aims to examine how the substantive staging of the servicescape, experience co-creation, experiential satisfaction and experience intensification affect experience memorability and hedonic well-being in the case of unmanned smart hotels.
Design/methodology/approach
An online survey was used, with the target respondents being hotel guests people aged 18 years and older who had been recent guests of the FlyZoo Hotel in Hangzhou, China. Data were collected online from 429 guests who had stayed in the hotel between April and June 2023. Data analysis was undertaken using structural equation modelling.
Findings
The results suggest that all the proposed four constructs are positive drivers of a memorable unmanned smart hotel experience. The relationship between the memorability of the hotel experience and hedonic well-being was found to be significant and positive.
Practical implications
Unmanned smart hotels should ensure that all smart technologies function effectively and dependably and offer highly personalised services to guests, allowing them to co-create their experiences. This will lead to the guest receiving a satisfying and memorable experience. To enable experience co-creation using smart technologies, unmanned smart hotels could provide short instructional videos for guests, as well as work closely with manufacturers and suppliers to ensure that smart technology systems are regularly updated.
Originality/value
This study investigates the antecedents and outcomes of a novel phenomenon and extends the concept of memorable tourism experiences to the context of unmanned smart hotels.
Details
Keywords
Jere Jokelainen, Brian Garrod, Erose Sthapit and Juho Pesonen
This study aims to examine the role of experiential familiarity in determining the competitiveness of hotel chains. It does so by comparing the attribute-performance perceptions…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the role of experiential familiarity in determining the competitiveness of hotel chains. It does so by comparing the attribute-performance perceptions of guests who had and had not previously stayed at a property belonging to a specific hotel chain. It also examines how far such perceptions shape word-of-mouth and future purchase intentions.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from 1,016 Finnish leisure tourists in 2021 using an online questionnaire, providing a representative sample of Finnish domestic leisure tourists.
Findings
The results indicate that the competitiveness of different hotel chains depends on a small number of key attributes. Differentiation between hotel chains can be seen from the results. Previous guests rate hotel chain attributes more highly than non-previous guests. Behavioral intentions do not differ between previous and non-previous guests, but how many times a person has stayed in the hotel chain significantly influences behavioral intentions. The results provide strategic levers that hotel chains can use to enhance their competitiveness.
Practical implications
Hotels should invest in attributes that have the biggest positive impact on customer behavior. These will be different for different hotel chains. By understanding these differences, it is possible to communicate relevant attributes to customers through marketing and develop hotel features that will drive revisit intention and word-of-mouth marketing.
Originality/value
This study found that while certain hotel attributes had a significant shaping effect on guests’ performance ratings, there were no decisive differences between those with or without experiential familiarity with the hotel chain.
Details
Keywords
Erose Sthapit, Brian Garrod, Dafnis N. Coudounaris, Siamak Seyfi, Ibrahim Cifci and Tan Vo-Thanh
Based on stimulus-organism-response theory, this study aims to develop and tests a model of memorable heritage tourism experience (MHTE). The model proposes that experiencescape…
Abstract
Purpose
Based on stimulus-organism-response theory, this study aims to develop and tests a model of memorable heritage tourism experience (MHTE). The model proposes that experiencescape, experience co-creation, education and photography are important antecedents of MHTE, which is then a driver of place attachment.
Design/methodology/approach
Data for this study were collected using a Web-based questionnaire of people aged 18 years and over who had a heritage tourism experience during the previous three months (February–April 2023). The survey was distributed in May 2023 using Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk). A survey link was posted on MTurk, which remained active for the first week of May 2023. Out of the 283 responses received, 272 were valid responses from individuals who met the participation criteria.
Findings
Experiencescape, experience co-creation, education and photography were found to be positive drivers of the MHTE, with a positive relationship between MHTE and place attachment.
Originality/value
Many studies linked to memorable tourism experience (MTE) mainly replicate Kim, Ritchie, & McCormick’s (2012) MTE scale, regardless of the specific study context. This study offers an alternative framework through which alternative antecedents and outcomes of tourists’ MTE can be identified.
Details
Keywords
Alejandra Zuccoli, Hugues Seraphin and Maximiliano Korstanje
Classic education is mainly marked by what experts dubbed as “Cartesian dualism,” which punctuates the rational planning (mind) should subordinate emotions (body). In tourism…
Abstract
Classic education is mainly marked by what experts dubbed as “Cartesian dualism,” which punctuates the rational planning (mind) should subordinate emotions (body). In tourism education, Cartesian dualism occupies a central position populating in the academic curricula. Of course, over the recent years, some voices have alerted on the problems of tourism education in training the new tourism staff. Pregraduate students are often subject to excessive working hours, low-paid salaries without mentioning the lack of answers to respond to the global risks the industry often faces. This suggests that classic tourism education should be at least revisited. PANCOE is a successful experiment with basis on Joy Labs (University of Palermo, Argentina) that combines pleasurable techniques and practices to stimulate students’ academic performance while reducing drop-out rates. PANCOE alternates with digital technologies, smelling and tasting dishes, to enhance creativity and entrepreneurship. Originally designed to be applied to foreign students coming from neighboring countries who live alone in Buenos Aires, PANCOE shows promising results to be conducted over psychologically deprived students. Lastly, PANCOE centers efforts in consolidating local food heritage while cooking local dishes or baking pieces of bread or cookies where students come from.
Details
Keywords
This paper aims to provide an assessment of tourism promotion in tourist destinations and airports (TPTDs) and to organize and classify the literature on tourism promotion, with…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide an assessment of tourism promotion in tourist destinations and airports (TPTDs) and to organize and classify the literature on tourism promotion, with the aim of staging the importance of this topic and encouraging future research in the projection of tourism and marketing sectors.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) database to analyze the bibliometric in TPTDs topic from 2000 to 2021. Additionally, the paper also uses the visualization of similarities (VOS) viewer software to map graphically the bibliographic material. The graphical analysis uses bibliographic coupling, co-citation, citation and co-occurrence of keywords.
Findings
This study provides an amended new definition of tourism promotion, which is the efficient management of a destination’s resources and strategic plans by destination marketing organizations (DMOs) to adapt the tourism supply to market trends and will empower tourists to visit such destinations. Furthermore, results also show a new paradigm applied to TPTDs topic and classified in five first-order research streams. Digital and mobile marketing, infrastructure, branding, quality, accessibility and information factors about a specific destination which are mostly demanded by tourists are considered as an important means of promotion for the tourism industry.
Originality/value
The contribution of this study is important to identify new challenges and opportunities for researchers, DMOs, airport and airlines operators and stakeholders, as disentangling existing contradictions and applying new theoretical framework to make better future decisions by researchers and organizations to provide higher quality to new research in the context of the TPTDs.
Details
Keywords
Brian Micallef, Reuben Ellul and Nathaniel Debono
The private rental market in Malta has expanded significantly in recent years, but as at 2020, no official rent index is yet published. This paper aims to construct such an index…
Abstract
Purpose
The private rental market in Malta has expanded significantly in recent years, but as at 2020, no official rent index is yet published. This paper aims to construct such an index and explores the relative importance of structural, locational and neighbourhood factors to advertised rents.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors compile hedonic indices for advertised rents in Malta collected from publicly available sources using webscraping techniques. The database comprises more than 25,000 listings with information on various property attributes. Hedonic regressions are estimated using ordinary least squares and rent indices are computed using three alternative methods: the time dummy method, the rolling time dummy method and the average characteristics method. For the latter, indices are computed using the Laspeyres, Paasche and Fisher methods.
Findings
The results from the hedonic indices indicate that the annual growth rate in advertised rents was slowing down during 2019, albeit still remaining relatively high, while in 2020, advertised rents contracted sharply, amplified by the effects of COVID-19. The findings also reveal that advertised rental prices are significantly influenced by various structural, locational and neighbourhood factors.
Originality/value
This paper introduces the first rent index in Malta that will be used to monitor developments in the rental segment of the housing market and for financial stability purposes given the share of buy-to-let properties. It also provides various elasticities on the impact of property attributes on advertised rents in Malta. Finally, the study contributes to the literature on the effect of foreign-born residents on advertised rents.
Details
Keywords
Crystal C. Lewis and Cristina H. Jönsson
It is observed that many destinations are implementing sport tourism offerings to enhance their ability to attract visitors through satisfying their desires of new experiences…
Abstract
Purpose
It is observed that many destinations are implementing sport tourism offerings to enhance their ability to attract visitors through satisfying their desires of new experiences. This has led to a highly competitive sport tourism market and as a result destinations engage in various marketing techniques and promotional tools to gain an advantage. For that reason this research was undertaken to acquire a greater understanding of the importance of promotional tools to successfully and efficiently market sport tourism experiences.
Methodology/approach
The construct of this study comprises of two stages. The aim of the first stage is to evaluate the specific tools used to promote sport tourism and sport tourism experiences in Barbados by examining the responses of various sporting and tourism bodies. The second stage of this research was conducted to present and analyze how marketing/promotional tools could contribute to better market sport tourism experiences.
Findings
The research found that many of the promotional tools implemented in Barbados during their marketing process correspond with those used internationally. However, problems of poor and insufficient sporting facilities as well as little collaboration between tourism and sporting entities, hamper the success of Barbados as a sport tourism destination. This further minimized Barbados’ ability to market favorable tourism experiences. This therefore shows that while promotional tools are essential in attracting tourists, other elements must also be taken into consideration to ensure sport tourists have positive experiences which would lead to a successful sport tourism destination.
Originality/value
Few studies in this area have been undertaken in the Caribbean. This study attempts to fill this gap by examining the implementation of sport tourism offerings to attract visitors to Barbados.
Details
Keywords
Reviews the recent literature in document supply. Looking in particular at e books and journals, resource sharing, scholarly communication, unmediated delivery and pricing.
Abstract
Reviews the recent literature in document supply. Looking in particular at e books and journals, resource sharing, scholarly communication, unmediated delivery and pricing.
Details
Keywords
The division between town and country in most areas of the world is marked and shows little evidence of any closer association, but in this country recent history with its wide…
Abstract
The division between town and country in most areas of the world is marked and shows little evidence of any closer association, but in this country recent history with its wide economic changes has made the division less deep than in times past, but still within living memory. Time was when country folk were almost a distinct breed, living under conditions for the most part primitive.