City Tourism Research Articles

The Influence of Crowdedness and Brand Experience to Increase the Customer Loyalty in a Spicy Noodle Restaurant

Malang City is known as a tourist and student city that experiences population growth every year causing crowdedness phenomenon in several destinations, one of which is at Mie Gacoan restaurant. Crowdedness is a part of environmental psychology that can influence customers to buy and visit the restaurant in the future. Brand experience is another component that can influence customer loyalty in the long term, because loyalty is often considered a behavior that is reflected by customers and is considered a form of a way to maintain the existence of a restaurant and achieve a competitive advantage. This research aims to find out how crowding and brand experience influence brand image to increase customer loyalty through word of mouth. The respondents for this research were 250 people using purposive sampling and using a questionnaire. The method used is partial least squares – structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The results show that crowding has a positive and significant effect on brand image, brand experience has a positive and significant effect on brand image and word of mouth, brand image has a positive and significant effect on word of mouth, and word of mouth has a positive and significant effect on customer loyalty.

Assessing barriers to smart tourism cities from a TALC perspective: a best-worst method

ABSTRACT A Smart tourism city (STC) is a smart city that includes tourism in its strategy, concurrently enhancing the quality of the tourist's experience, the quality of life for residents and mitigating urban challenges. Although the literature shows STC applications and benefits, there is a lack of studies analysing and assessing the managerial and organisational barriers to STC development for different levels of tourism development. Thus, we address this literature gap by conducting a best-worst method with 40 experts. The method allows for identifying and ranking the various STC barriers for different levels of tourism development, i.e. early and late cycles, based on the tourism area life cycle model. The consequent rankings are eventually compared. The results show seven barriers to STC development that have different rankings for the early and late cycles of tourism development. The most important barrier is the lack of a clear STC strategy for both levels of tourism development. In contrast, the least important barrier is the lack of smart infrastructure for the early cycle and the lack of smart development standards for the late cycle.

Determinants and indicators for destination competitiveness: the case of Shiraz city, Iran

Purpose Nowadays, the tourism industry is considered the largest and most diverse industry in the world, which can play a significant role in the economic growth and development of a country as the main source of income and employment. In this regard, the purpose of this study is to focus on evaluating the competitiveness indicators of Shiraz city tourism destination based on a combined model. Design/methodology/approach For this purpose, a questionnaire with 78 questions was used to evaluate the indicators, in which a total of 1,432 tourists participated, including 927 domestic tourists and 505 international tourists. The collected data were analyzed to determine the hierarchical relationship between the indicators using equation structural modeling. Findings The research findings indicate that the most effective and influential indicators in the field of tourism competitiveness are natural and handmade resources, and the most influential factors are demand conditions and cultural and natural resources. In this hierarchy, each factor affects its previous level and influences the next level. Originality/value This study offers significant potential for uncovering credible and robust approaches to further investigate the contextualization of tourism competitiveness on both national and international scales, thereby generating valuable new insights. By conceptualizing the diverse dimensions of tourism competitiveness and delving into the variations in its impacts across multiple levels, this research not only challenges existing notions but also aids destinations in maintaining and enhancing their market position and share over time. This study offers valuable insights and practical implications for both researchers and practitioners in the field of urban tourism. It enhances the understanding of destination competitiveness, informs policy decisions, facilitates benchmarking and best practices, guides strategic decision-making and promotes sustainable tourism development.

AI dogs vs. real dogs and human-like robots: clarification, conceptualization, and applications in tourism and hospitality settings

Purpose This study aims to conceptualize the characteristics of artificial intelligence (AI) dogs while exploring their applications in tourism and hospitality settings. Design/methodology/approach The total of 30 in-depth interviews were conducted, and data were analyzed through thematic analysis. Findings This study proposed differences between AI dogs and real dogs and human-like robots, core characteristics of AI dogs’ functions, a matrix of appearance and expectation regarding intelligence for AI dogs and human-like robots, the relationship between ethical barriers and task complexity, adoptions of AI dogs in different user segments and practical applications in hospitality and tourism settings, such as restaurants, city tour guides, extended-stay resorts and event organizations. Research limitations/implications This research advances the field of tourism and hospitality studies by introducing the new concept of AI dogs and their practical applications. This present study adds new insights into the opportunities and contexts of human–robot interaction in the field of tourism and hospitality. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is one of the first studies of AI dogs in tourism and hospitality.

Analysis of Decision Making of Tourists to Choose "Plggoodguide'' as a Tour Service in Palembang, Indonesia

This case study aimed to analyse consumer behaviour, tourist motivation and travel decisions during the COVID-19 pandemic of tourists in the city of Palembang. The need for travel was felt necessary by tourists during the COVID-19 pandemic while still implementing health protocols. Travel innovations were made during this time by identifying behaviour and understanding tourist needs during the pandemic. One is “Plggoodguide”, which provides a short city tour experience and education by visiting several historical buildings on foot. This research was conducted using a quantitative approach with 90 respondents. The process of recording tourist behaviour patterns as consumers was carried out using content analysis sourced from several relevant documents. The results obtained that having a good understanding and sensitivity to the motivation of tourist consumers, will make it easier for producers to identify tourist needs as indicated by purchasing decisions. Keywords: consumer behaviour, travel motivation, decision making, urban tourism, covid-19 pandemic

Determinants and spatial spillover effects of inbound tourism in Chinese cities

PurposeBy using a wide range of macro and micro factors, this paper aims to provide a new assessment of the recent literature on inbound tourism demand models.Design/methodology/approachThis study examines the determinants and spatial effects of inbound tourism using Hausman–Taylor and spatial econometric models.FindingsSeveral important factors were identified, including local economic growth, openness to the outside world, regional size, geographic distance, foreign direct investment, level of innovation and average annual temperature. In addition, the study found strong cross-city competition effects on tourism resource endowment and hotel infrastructure.Originality/valueInbound tourism is a crucial link in achieving high-quality economic development. However, previous studies have mainly focused on the analysis of single influencing factors, ignoring the spatial spillover effects of factors.

Solving biobjective traveling thief problems with multiobjective reinforcement learning

This study proposes an end-to-end multiobjective reinforcement learning (MORL) approach to solve the biobjective traveling thief problems (TTP). A TTP involves a thief visiting cities and selecting items to maximize profit while minimizing travel time within a knapsack’s capacity. The study evaluates combinations of two architectures, namely the pointer network (PN) and attention mechanism (AM), with three MORL methods: deep reinforcement learning multiobjective algorithm (DRLMOA), multi-sample Pareto hypernetwork (PHN), and manifold-based policy search (MBPS). However, PN and AM cannot be directly used to predict two different sequences simultaneously: the city tour and the item selection. Therefore, a solution encoding and decoding scheme is proposed to solve TTP without substantially modifying PN and AM. The methods are trained on only small randomly generated problem instances based on Eil76 instances, and their performance is evaluated on various problem instances. The state-of-the-art non-dominated sorting-based customized random-key genetic algorithm (NDS-BRKGA) serves as the baseline. The experimental study demonstrates a competitive performance of the proposed methods compared to the baseline, particularly in instances with a high number of items. The proposed methods, especially PN-DRLMOA and AM-DRLMOA, also show promising generalization capabilities on different and larger graphs. Lastly, the proposed MORL methods significantly outperform NDS-BRKGA in terms of the solution generation running time.

Rural footprints of leisure choice—Exploring spatial complementarities in ‘Happy Feet’ and ‘Green Beauty’ tourism

AbstractThe ‘Happy Feet’–‘Green Beauty’ tourism nexus represents the functional spatial interplay between entertainment‐centered tourism and nature‐based visitors' choices. This paper seeks to explain rural (non‐urban) tourism patterns emerging from the interaction between the two forms of tourism in the context of sustainable destination development, using Las Vegas and its hinterland as a case study. The analysis addresses important key concepts related to the urban–rural tourism nexus, namely deconcentrated concentration of tourism, health tourism, nature/eco‐tourism, tourism crowding, spatial substitution/complementarity in tourism, outer‐inner city tourism synergy, and intervening spatial opportunities in tourism. The study develops a novel methodological framework for identifying the drivers of rural (non‐urban) tourism choices as spillover factors from tourism crowding in major attractions. Mapping out this transition in leisure behavior contributes to a comprehensive understanding of the ‘Happy Feet’–’Green Beauty’ tourism nexus for post‐corona tourism development and informs future research and practical implications in tourism spillover studies.

Decoding smart tech's influence on tourist experience quality

Smart tourism technology has sparked a profound transformation within the tourism sector, notably enhancing the quality of the tourist experience, satisfaction levels, and the inclination to revisit among those exploring Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. This research examines the impact of smart tourism technology on these critical aspects and discusses its implications for the city's tourism landscape. A sample of 418 tourists who explored Ho Chi Minh City participated in this study, providing data through a quantitative research approach. The research findings highlight the positive impact of integrating smart tourism technology, including mobile apps, augmented reality, and personalized recommendations, on the tourist experience. These technologies enhance convenience and accessibility, leading to increased satisfaction among tourists. Moreover, smart tourism technology influences tourists' intentions to revisit Ho Chi Minh City, emphasizing the strategic importance of adopting smart tourism technology to enhance destination attractiveness, improve the visitor experience, and encourage repeat visits. Policymakers and tourism stakeholders should consider investing in and implementing these technologies to leverage their potential benefits for the tourism industry.

Impact of Destination Images and E-WOM on Urban Millenial Decision to Visit Tourism Potential City

Tourism potential in Serang City is almost eliminated and forgotten along with the city’s continuous expansion. The role of urban millennials in promoting tourism is now important. Therefore, researchers used urban millennials as respondents in this study. By using SEM analysis with the SmartPLS application, this research was conducted to determine destination image preferences from millennial tourists in Serang City and their influence on e-WOM and the decision to visit. The results indicated support for affective image, price image, and travel motivation positively influence e-WOM. However, e-WOM does not appear to have a significant positive influence on the decision to visit. Additionally, cognitive image is the only factor that positively influences the decision to visit directly. The proposed mediating role of e-WOM in the relationship between destination image with the decision to visit is not supported. The findings of this study offer important factors for the destination marketers, policymakers, and businesses of a potential tourism city, in this case Serang City, to consider when developing a specific marketing strategy for this market segment (urban millennials). In addition, the results of this study provide a better understanding of the urban millennial perspective on their decision to visit cities with tourism potential.

Peran Pemerintah Daerah dalam Pemberdayaan Masyarakat di Kampung Wisata Kota Bandung

Tourism is a field that is currently rising in rank in driving the community’s economic growth. Where the role of the government is to support in encouraging the growth of the community’s empowerment in tourist villages. The aim of the research is to determine the role of the government in encouraging tourism growth in tourist villages in Bandung City. By encouraging involvement in community empowerment and creating policies, they are intended to support the community empowerment in Bandung City tourist villages. The type of research is descriptive qualitative research with data collection techniques using triangulation techniques (interviews, observations, and documentation studies). The result of the research shows that the role of the government based on theories is related to the entrepreneurial indicators, coordination and facilitators have been implemented, however in the process of implementing, the results that was obtained was not optimized. Meanwhile, the community’s empowerment with the dimensions of enabling, empowering, and protecting had also been implemented, but there is still a lack of continuous/periodic supervision and innovation in solving problems that occur in tourist villages. The suggestions to these is to build more participatory programs, to make innovations in solving problems and to increase supervision.

A Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis of Lingnan Cultural Promotional Videos on Social Media

In recent years, more and more directors of culture and tourism have taken part in the promotion of local cultural tourism resources by cross-dressing, talent shows, and pushing their limits on self-media platforms. This study investigates short videos of Lingnan culture promoted by directors general and deputy directors general of the Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism, and Sports Bureau of counties and cities in Guangdong Province on social media by the method of multimodal critical discourse analysis. The analysis of 33 videos shows that Lingnan culture is a domineering and confident culture, historical culture, graceful and elegant culture, and vibrant and active culture. Domineering and confident culture is embedded in the utterances and behaviors of the directors general or deputy directors general in the video. Historical culture is realized through the conversation with historical figures through time travel. Graceful and elegant culture is constructed in the depiction of sceneries and the depiction of characters’ manners. Vibrant and active culture is represented in the depiction of the characters’ actional process and analytical process.

KL as an Islamic City Tourism Destination: The Influence of Place Involvement and Experience Quality on Place Attachment

The Muslim market presently dominates as the most lucrative and fastest-growing market segment, simultaneously holding one of the largest markets in the world. Therefore, it is necessary to have a comprehensive understanding of Muslim tourists, especially those outside the Asia-Pacific region, such as the Middle East, who have significant purchasing power. This discussion argues that the strategies that focus on creating a strong emotional connection with the country are imperative to ensure that Malaysia, particularly Kuala Lumpur, will always remain the most popular Muslim destination. This article defines the sense of place concept (place attachment) and explains the factors that influenced it. Comprehending the sense of place key elements can help measure visitor engagement with a place accurately. Based on the literature on “place involvement” in consumer behaviour and “place attachment” from environmental psychology, this article provides a conceptual framework for understanding tourist attachment relationships with places.

Considering urban tourism in strategic spatial planning

This paper addresses how strategic spatial planning is considering urban tourism, a phenomenon that has an increasing impact on the development of cities. A research approach interlinking urban tourism and spatial planning is conceptualised based on responsiveness theory and applied to a case study of ten medium-sized Central European cities. Descriptive statistical analysis of the presence of tourism in cities and policy analysis of strategic spatial planning documents enable a comparison analysis of the level of consideration of tourism alongside screening of proposed tourism-related measures. The paper reveals that strategic spatial planning documents are not responsive enough to tourism growth, and there is a lack of strategic measures steering towards sustainable tourism development in cities.

The effects of tourism on economic growth targets achievement

ABSTRACT Exploring the impact of tourism on economic growth targets achievement (EGTA) can not only effectively combine the tourism-induced economic growth hypothesis with political promotion tournament theory but also help guide the economic decisions of local officials. Based on panel data from 277 cities in China, this paper examines the impact of tourism on EGTA. The results show that tourism revenue is not favourable to EGTA, but tourist arrivals are. The significant effect of tourism on EGTA is only found in eastern China. Tourism in cities not driven by tourism often fails to stimulate EGTA. In regions with higher levels of economy and technological innovation, tourism has a greater positive impact on EGTA, but fixed asset investment amplifies tourism’s negative impact on EGTA. In addition, tourist arrivals have a significant spatial spillover effect on EGTA. This paper reveals the theoretical mechanism of tourism-induced EGTA and is also an important attempt to integrate the political promotion tournament theory with the tourism-induced economic growth hypothesis.

Why temporality matters in collective resistance: Shifting civic norms in a post‐traumatic society

AbstractWhat is the role of civic norms for social change after traumatic events, and how do those norms shape collective resistance? The present study seeks to address this urgent query by examining Sicilians' culture war against the mafia. Based on rigorous ethnographic research over a period of 7 years (2016–2023), an extensive database was created, which included 77 commemorative events, a guided city tour, 54 interviews with antimafia activists, and 89 audio–visual recordings totaling 1768 min. I introduce two analytical concepts, “informative rituals” and “transmissive rituals,” that offer a new perspective on how activists leverage the civic norms of social bonds to realize their objectives. I argue that shifting civic norms in a post‐traumatic society is not only driven by collective resistance but also requires significant time in the presence of an oppressive force. This study proposes that, for a socially traumatized community attempting to shift civic norms, prolonged and strenuous endeavors are required in order to thoroughly permeate those norms among the general public. The findings demonstrate that the consolidation of civic norms within post‐traumatic societies is highly contingent upon its temporal context and sustainability, which explains why culture wars frequently necessitate a long‐term communal investment.

Editorial: Rethinking tourism in cities – alternative spaces and responsible practices

Editorial: Rethinking tourism in cities – alternative spaces and responsible practices

Machine learning for water demand forecasting: Case study in a Brazilian coastal city

ABSTRACT Water resources management is crucial for human well-being and contemporary socio-economic development. However, the increasing use of water has led to various problems that affect its quality and availability. To address these issues, accurate forecasting of water consumption is essential for the optimal operation of water collection, treatment, and distribution systems. This study aims to compare four machine learning methods for predicting daily urban water demand in a Brazilian coastal tourist city (Guaratuba – Paraná). Historical data from the city’s water distribution system, spanning from 2016 to 2019 (1,461 measurements in total), were considered along with meteorological and calendar data to conduct the investigation. Three time series cross-validation approaches were considered for each method, thus totaling 12 evaluation settings. All models were subjected to hyperparameter optimization and evaluated using appropriate performance metrics from the literature. Results demonstrate the importance of using nonlinear models to predict short-term water demand, highlighting the problem’s complexity. From the compared models, multilayer perceptron provided the best results. Finally, regardless of the model, the best results were obtained by applying an expanding window time series cross-validation, indicating that the more historical data available, the better, in this particular case.

Enhancing Students’ intercultural competences through University Academic Training

The present paper aims to exhibit the benefit of intercultural educational courses in enhancing University students’ global understanding, tolerance, and inclusive social engagement. The paper displays the academic description, objectives, and implementation of the practices of the intercultural educational courses. The courses are inserted as major modules in undergraduate college studies. The case study analyzed within this experiment relates to the module entitled “Intercultural Communication”, which is part of a program that runs over three years entitled “Applied Languages in Culture” at Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakech, Morocco. The paper analyses quantitatively and qualitatively the attitudes and performances of undergraduate students having trained in how to succeed in communication in extreme intercultural contexts where different religions, traditions, and beliefs are encountered. Homework tasks, tests, exams, cultural exchange, and student-oriented surveys are analyzed and studied. The results produced by the immersion of intercultural courses in the university academic programs reveal that the graduated students succeed not only in being well integrated in their own cultural community but also in raising their chances of being hired in touristic companies where people from different cultures meet and interact. Such is the case of the graduates in intercultural communication taking place in Marrakech, which is a highly renowned touristic city.

Characterizing Inbound Tourism in Mati City: Destination Attributes and Revisit Intention

The study intends to assess the level of tourist perceived destination attributes (local culture, activities & special events, local hospitality, infrastructure, destination management, accessibility, quality of service, physiography, superstructure, and quality of shopping) and the level of revisit intention in the City of Mati. This study also aimed to look into the utilization and importance of the tourist perceived destination attributes and their effectiveness towards revisiting intention. A non-exploratory plan was utilized for the study using illuminating overview strategy procedure. This study used an online survey through google forms to disseminate the survey questionnaire to the 500 tourists who visited the City of Mati. The study shows that the perceived destination attributes of Mati City as a travel destination are very much observed. On the other hand, the revisit intention in Mati City is highly observed. Above all, the tourist destination attributes and revisit intention are completely correlated and have a significant relationship. The results have marketing implications for the Mati City tourism and resort management. Sustaining satisfaction among tourists simply means that they were able to provide the need and wants for an anticipated experience and stay in the aspects. This will result in sustainable destination management and innovation if they continue to meet tourist expectations regarding destination attributes and experience (products).