Search results

This study aims to provide current and organised insights into past published studies on tourism destination competitiveness (TDC) in the past decade through systematic literature analysis.

A comprehensive review was performed by systematically gathering the literature published from 1983 to 2021 and coded according to categories such as author, year, article title, name of journal and TDC determinants.

The key findings of this review reveal that no universal set of items, attributes or indicators to measure the competitiveness of tourism destinations exists; the complexity and variability of many definitions and measuring elements from various perspectives portray the multi-faceted concept of competitiveness; and synergistic connection between the source of comparative and competitive advantages of TDC focusing on destination image, tourism experience and loyalty.

Research works considered in the study are only from indexed and peer-reviewed journal publications.

The study findings reveal a lack of studies that address the relationship between destination image, tourism experience and loyalty within the TDC realm. Future studies should consider complementing the tourism supply and demand side to avoid a “strategic drift” of TDC concepts, perceptions and practices.

This study investigates the relationship between social commerce adoption determinants, perceived trust and purchase behaviour among pastry product consumers.

The research data were collected using a five-point Likert from 409 pastry consumers through an online survey. Partial least square-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was utilised to test the study model and hypotheses.

The study findings indicate that pastry consumers perceived social commerce as effortless, engaging, enjoyable, can be trusted, simple to use and time-saving, motivating them to consume pastry products via social commerce platforms.

This study provides insights and implications for social commerce researchers and marketers related explicitly to perishable products.

This study is one of the few studies that predict and explain the consumer acceptance of social commerce in the pastry products realm. As only a handful of research has endeavoured to research social commerce, this study findings contribute to the conceptualisation of technology acceptance theory by understanding the determinants of social commerce adoption among consumers.

The importance of shopping streets has long been considered a critical aspect of urban tourism. However, limited exploration focuses on the supply side, especially from the tour operator’s (TO) perspective. This paper aims to investigate TOs’ perceptions and attitudes towards packaging Tuanku Abdul Rahman Street (TARS) as an urban shopping spot in Kuala Lumpur.

Study data is gathered through qualitative in-depth interviews among 25 TO managers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The coding process was done manually, followed by qualitative data analysis using ATLAS.ti version 8 software.

The results show that the TOs regarded TARS as a must-visit shopping spot for international tourists. They argue that TARS’s competitiveness as a shopping street depends on the supporting infrastructure and safe environment, which are currently neglected by the relevant authorities and jeopardise the sustainability of TARS as a must-visit shopping street in the future.

This study’s findings generate value-added information on the potential of shopping tourism and TARS as must-visit shopping streets in Malaysia. On the other hand, the TOs’ concern about the lack of supporting infrastructure and unsafe environment generates varying consequences and implications for the individual TOs, tourism policymakers and government-related authorities.

This study offers new insight for urban tourism policymakers, managers and entrepreneurs to capture the attributes of a vibrant shopping street. There is exclusive potential for local tourism operators to take greater responsibility in shopping tourism planning processes and management operations through trustworthy planning partnerships among respective tourism stakeholders related to the shopping street domain.

There is a paucity of knowledge on how visual sensory cues impact consumers’ purchase behaviour and their satisfaction, especially in Ramadhan street food bazaar context. This study aims to investigate the effect of Muslim consumer’s visual sensory cues on Ramadhan street food purchase behaviour and satisfaction.

This study surveyed 367 Malaysian Muslim consumers to depict their purchase behaviour and satisfaction based on visual sensory cues during their visit to the Ramadhan street food bazaar.

The findings show that visual sensory evaluations of texture and appearance influence Ramadhan street food bazaar customers’ purchase behaviour. Meanwhile, visual cues of texture and taste of the street bazaar food significantly influenced satisfaction.

The result offers practice guidelines for small food operators to enhance their product placement and display to encourage consumer purchase behaviour. The findings highlight the importance of visual cues in foodservice businesses and how they affect consumers’ desire to consume Ramadhan street bazaar’s food products.

Paying attention to food presentation would allow the sellers to obtain customers’ attention and purchase intention. Subsequently, it allows the Ramadhan street bazaar food sellers to be more competitive and effective in their business operation techniques and services, eventually impacting their survivability and sustainability.

This study aims to explore the support and attitudes of the local community together with the benefits of living in the vicinity of George Town UNESCO World Heritage Site. George Town is one of the popular UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Malaysia.

A total of 319 respondents residing in the gazetted area of George Town World Heritage Sites were interviewed. The covariance-based structural equation modelling (CB-SEM) analysis was conducted to test the study’s hypotheses.

The community's attitudes and personal benefits were identified to strongly influence community’s support towards the conservation and development of the World Heritage Sites in George Town. While a small number of community members acknowledged the significant opportunities through tourism, majority of them expected economic and non-economic benefits from the development of World Heritage Sites.

The findings from this study are expected to contribute to the ongoing debate on the perceived effects, benefits and future support of the World Heritage Sites from the local community's perspectives.

Understanding the behaviour of the local community to create successful tourism planning, especially in delicate heritage destinations.

This study enriches the scarce empirical research study on community’s behaviour living in the vicinity of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, especially in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) region.

The purpose of this study is to empirically examine the interrelationship between customer acceptance and usage of self-ordering kiosks, purchase behaviour and post-purchase behaviour in quick-service restaurants. This study also hypothesised that the perceived safety risk moderates the relationship between customer purchase and post-purchase behaviour.

This study adopted a quantitative research methodology using an online survey. During the data collection process, 430 responses were obtained. The partial-least square-structural equation modelling was used to test the study’s model and hypotheses.

The results of this study indicated that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, facilitating conditions, social influence, facilitating conditions, hedonic motivation and trust significantly influence purchase behaviour through the self-ordering kiosks. Meanwhile, price value and customer habit did not affect purchasing behaviour, while perceived safety risk as a moderator does not influence re-purchase behaviour.

This study provides valuable implications for foodservice researchers and marketers related explicitly to technology adoption in restaurant services. Given the positive outlook on self-ordering kiosk usage, quick-service restaurants should continuously improve their ordering kiosk adoption and efficiency, especially during the health pandemic.

This study is one of the few to predict and explain the consumer acceptance of self-service kiosks by integrating the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 model with other essential behavioural constructs. The inclusion of trust and perceived safety risk construct enhances the study model’s adaptability during health crises.

This study aims to examine the relationships between tourism destination competitiveness (TDC) determinants and tourism performance. This study specifically assessed the soundness of the TDC attributes and evaluated their ability in explaining tourism performance.

The Dwyer and Kim’s (2003) destination competitiveness integrated model (IM) was used. Secondary data of 115 nations available from the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) and other international reports were also used. The hypothesised relationships were tested via partial least square-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM).

This study confirms that the core resources, complementary condition, globalisation and tourism price significantly explain tourism performance. Results have shown differences in the competitiveness level and actual performance among nations, highlighting specific limitations of the current TDC model and TTCI report reliability.

Future study could segment the sample base on destinations characteristic and then analyse it based on smaller sub-samples of similar destinations. Moreover, drivers of destination performance in developed and less develop destinations are quite diverse.

The incorrect competitiveness ranking evaluation will affect inward investment decisions. This study framework enables policymakers to arrive at more informed decisions than merely relying on the original competitiveness rankings.

The widespread acknowledgment of the importance of competitiveness for a tourism destination's success suggests that there is a crucial need for sound benchmarking of countries’ competitive capabilities. The proposed competitiveness determinants aid the policymakers in identifying the best competitiveness and tourism performance predictors, as well as how to identify crucial factors affecting the rankings.

This paper delves into the multi-faceted factors influencing the adoption and utilisation of online travel agencies (OTAs) for reserving hotel accommodations. The study aims to expand upon the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT2) framework to accomplish this objective by integrating the critical dimension of technology readiness (TR).

Four hundred and fifty-three (453) inbound tourists were asked to share their feedbacks on their recent OTA booking experience. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to confirm the study model and test the study hypotheses.

This study found that the motivating TR attributes favourably affect the acceptance and actual use of OTAs, while the inhibitors TR reflects adverse effects on OTA’s usage. On the other hand, the OTAs usage attributes: performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating condition, hedonic motivation, price value and habit are all significant determinants of consumers' behavioural intention.

The originality of this study lies in providing a more comprehensive explanation and prediction of consumer behaviour in relation to OTAs. Specifically, it recognises the importance of TR as a significant determinant of technology adoption and usage within the service industry realm.

The purpose of this study is twofold. The first objective is to identify the factors that affect Gen Z tourists' M-payment behaviour. Next, this study investigates the inter-relationship between Gen Z tourist’s perception of M-payment benefits, adoption behaviour, usage risk and future usage intention.

The sample comprised Malaysian Gen Z individuals (n = 326) who had experience using M-payment methods while travelling outbound. Given the complex nature of the model and the goal to predict and explain relationships within Gen Z's M-payment usage, partial-least square-structural equation modelling was used to assess the study framework and test the proposed relationships.

This study reveals significant influences on Gen Z tourists' behavioural intentions towards M-payment usage. Perceived benefits, performance expectancy, social influence and perceived trust positively impact behavioural intentions, while effort expectancy exhibits no significant effect. Furthermore, perceived trust is strongly influenced by perceived security, which also positively influences behavioural intentions. A mediated relationship is evident as trust mediating the effect of perceived security on behavioural intentions.

This study’s findings contribute to understanding the intricate relationships influencing Gen Z's M-payment behaviour and underscore trust's pivotal role in mediating the security–behavioural intention relationship.

This study is among the first to consider Mental Accounting Theory and the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology as crucial underpinning theories in comprehending the intricate relationships that influence Gen Z travellers' perceptions and behaviours concerning M-payment systems.

This study integrates the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and value-belief-norm (VBN) theory to investigate tourists' intention and behaviour to visit green hotels in Malaysia.

A total of 160 valid questionnaire responses were collected via an online survey. The partial least square–structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) technique was utilised to assess the study framework and the hypothesised relationship.

The study's results confirmed that tourists' intention to stay at a green hotel is directly influenced by their subjective norms and perceived behavioural control. Besides, the study confirms the insignificant relationship between green trust, personal norms and tourists' stay intention. On the other hand, perceived morals, responsibility, willingness to pay more and perceived consumer effectiveness were significant in explaining the customer's subjective norms, personal norms and perceived behaviour control.

The hotel industry may benefit from this empirical outcome to devise effective marketing strategies for retaining their customers, particularly in rejuvenating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the industry.

This study provides valuable practical implications for green hotel operators to develop effective strategies to attract tourists to green hotel visits.

This study is the first to integrate the extended TPB and VBN theory to understand tourist intention to visit a green hotel. Notably, the extended TPB and VBN theory was practical and helpful in predicting tourist intention to visit a green hotel.