Destination Choice Research Articles

Spatial accessibility and travel to pharmacy by type in the Detroit region

BackgroundCommunity pharmacies are a critical part of the health care provision system. Yet less is understood about the spatial accessibility to pharmacies and how people travel to reach these services. ObjectivesThis study compared spatial accessibility and actual travel to different types of pharmacies among selected neighborhoods in the Detroit region. MethodsThree types of neighborhoods were selected and compared, including two lower income Black urban neighborhoods of high-density and four upper income White suburbs (two of low density and two of high density). Spatial accessibility was computed by pharmacy type and compared among neighborhoods using ANOVA. Pharmacy trips reported in a travel survey were geocoded and linked with community pharmacies in a list generated from ReferenceUSA business data. Destination choices were mapped and the relationship between spatial accessibility and actual distance traveled was examined using ordinary least squares regressions. ResultsOn average, urban residents in Detroit had higher access to local independent pharmacies (0.74 miles to the nearest one) but relatively lower access to national chains (1.35 miles to the nearest one), which most residents relied on. Urban residents also tended to shop around more for services even among national chains. In fact, they bypassed nearby local independent pharmacies and traveled long distances to use farther pharmacies, primarily national chains. The average trip distance to pharmacy was 2.1 miles for urban residents, but only 1.1 miles and 1.5 miles for residents in high-density suburbs and low-density suburbs, respectively. ConclusionSupposedly good spatial access considering all pharmacies together may mask excessive burden in reaching the pharmacy services needed in low-income minority urban communities, as shown in the case of Detroit. Thus, when mapping pharmacy deserts, it is important to distinguish spatial accessibility among different pharmacy types.

Missing Typical Weekdays in Travel Surveys: A Pseudo-Panel Approach to Explore Weekly Travel Patterns

Travel surveys generally rely on single-day travel diaries where respondents report their travel information for a typical weekday. However, the concept of a typical weekday does not represent the current reality, as travel behavior has been largely altered in the post-pandemic period. Besides, the conclusions based on analyzing single-day travel diaries lack the ability to capture daily variations in travel behavior. In response to these concerns, this research proposed a framework to expand single-day travel diaries into longitudinal multi-day travel data using a pseudo-panel approach. Leveraging the constructed longitudinal data, the study evaluated the determinants of people’s daily participation in work–school, routine, and discretionary activities. Fixed and random effects panel data estimation models were used for this purpose. Results showed that activity participation is largely attributed to vehicle ownership, income, education, driving license, and household structure. Noticeable daily trends were observed in work–school and discretionary activities. A negative association between transit pass ownership and activity participation was noticed, suggesting social exclusion faced by transit users. In addition, teleworkers were found to be relatively more engaged in discretionary activities. Suburban residents were found to travel longer to participate in activities compared to urban dwellers. The proposed research framework can support future activity-based modeling aspects, such as activity participation, scheduling, mode choice, shared travel, and destination choice models, specifically addressing the “typical weekday” barrier.

Attaining global peace and tourism competitiveness: linkages between tourism, security measures and economic stability

PurposeThe Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 outlines sustainability as associated with peace, good governance and justice. The perception of international tourists about security measures and risks is a key factor affecting destination choices, tourist flow and overall satisfaction. Thus, we investigate the impact of armed forces personnel, prices, economic stability, financial development and infrastructure on tourism.Design/methodology/approachThis research used data from 130 countries from 1995 to 2019, which were divided into four income groups. This study employs a two-step generalized method of moments (GMM) technique and a novel tourism index comprising five relevant indicators of tourism.FindingsA 1% increase in armed forces personnel expands tourism in all income groups – 0.369% High Income Countries (HICs), 0.348% Upper Middle Income Countries (UMICs), 0.247% Lower Middle Income Countries (LMICs) and 0.139% Low Income Countries (LICs). The size of the tourism-safety coefficient decreases from high to low-income groups. The impact of inflation is significantly negative in all panels, excluding LICs. The reduction in tourism was 0.033% in HICs, 0.049% in UMICs and 0.029% in LMICs for a 1% increase in prices. The increase in the global tourism index is more in LICs (0.055%), followed by LMICs (0.024%), UMICs (0.009%) and HICs (0.004%) for a 1% expansion in the gross domestic product (GDP)/capita growth. However, the magnitude of the growth-led tourism impact is greater in developing countries. A positive impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow was found in all panels like 0.016% in HICs, 0.050% in UMICs and 0.119% in LMICs for a 1% increase in FDI inflow. The rise in the global tourism index is 0.097% (HICs), 0.124% (UMICs) and 0.310% (LMICs) for a 1% rise in the financial development index. The increase in the global tourism index is 0.487% (HICs), 0.420% (UMICs) and 0.136% (LICs) for a 1% rise in the infrastructure index.Research limitations/implicationsEmpirical analysis infers important policy implications such as (a) establishment of a peaceful environment via recruitment of security personnel, use of safe city cameras, modern technology and law enforcement; (b) provision of basic facilities to tourists like sanitation, drinking water, electricity, accommodation, quality food, fuel and communication network and (c) price stability through different tools of monetary and fiscal policy.Originality/valueFirst, it explains the effect of security personnel on a comprehensive index of tourism instead of a single variable of tourism. Second, it captures the importance of economic stability (i.e., economic growth, financial development and FDI inflow) in the tourism–peace nexus.

Housing differentiation from the spatial opportunity structure perspective: an empirical study on new-generation migrants in China

Using data from the 2017 China Migrants Dynamics Survey, this study employs generalized structural equation modeling to examine the effects of migrants' places of origin and socioeconomic status on their destination choice and access to homeownership in the destination city. The analyses reveal significant disparities in access to homeownership among migrants from different places of origin. Furthermore, the position of the destination city in the urban hierarchy not only has a direct impact on migrants' access to homeownership but also plays an important mediating role. This study highlights the spatial foundations of housing inequality and builds an analytical framework that links spatial mobility with social mobility. Our findings have significant implications for housing policies and practices aimed at improving the housing conditions of new-generation migrants.

“The impact of influencer marketing on destination choice-A quantitative study among Brazilian and German millennials."

The decision-making process of choosing a travel destination it is a very complex topic. Why individuals travel and what influences an individual’s travelling intentions in general has been studied by different scholars. This study examines the differences in the effect of influencer marketing on cross-national consumption destination choices by focusing on the impact of influencer marketing on travel destination choices by German and Brazilian millennials. Influencer marketing is a relatively new topic and its main impact is still under evaluated. Tourist behavior theories have been the focus of much research in many tourism studies, but how German and Brazilian millennial travelers’ intentions are shaped by influencer marketing has not been investigated. By reviewing academic sources, this master paper aims to analyze the efficacy of the TPB for predicting German and Brazilian millennial's intention when choosing a travel destination. Data were collected from Brazil and Germany for a two-week time frame starting in the beginning of June. 231 German, Brazilian and international tourists participated in the survey. In general, the main results have been aligned with previous literature studies which have supported the application of the TPB model. The three main elements, attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control were observed to have made an effect. In addition, the findings indicated that internal and external factors are considered by German and Brazilian millennials when choosing a travel destination. Moreover, main implications, recommendations and suggestions for future studies have been provided in the last chapter of this study.

A behavioral explanation of the activity-space segregation: Individuals’ preference of choosing an activity destination

The difference in the individuals’ preference of activity destination choice is a new explanation for the activity-space segregation. This study investigates individuals’ preference in the destination choice for their daily activities. It uses revealed preference survey for the choice of the activity destination, and mobile phone dataset for the ambient population at the activity destination in Guangzhou, China. It has found that (1) the activity-space segregation is strongly influenced by the residential segregation, but disadvantaged populations are more spatially constrained by the distance decay effect; (2) all individuals prefer a destination with high diversity of built environment; and (3) migrant people tend to be self-segregated at the activity space, but people with higher education status prefer to take activities at an integrated place.

Tourist Perceptions of Tourism Object in Central Aceh

Central Aceh Regency as one of the western most regions of Indonesia is one of the areas that is the choice of tourist destinations. The natural condition of Central Aceh district which is located in the highlands makes this area crowded with tourists. There are various types of tourism found in Central Aceh district ranging from nature tourism, agro tourism, and historical tourism. This study aims to determine the perception of tourists towards tourism objects in Central Aceh district in terms of Attraction, Amnesity, Accessibility and Hospitality Aspects. This study uses a quantitative descriptive research approach with primary data sources collected using a questionnaire via google form and limited interviews with several respondents. The results showed that the perception of tourists to tourism objects in Central Aceh Regency as a whole is quite good with a percentage of 78%. In particular, tourist perceptions of the attractions aspect of Central Aceh tourism objects are classified as good with a percentage of 85%, the amnesity aspect is quite good with a percentage of 72%, the accessibility aspect is quite good with a percentage of 71% and the hospitality aspect is classified as good with a percentage of 86%.

Long-term effects of a prehospital telemedicine system on structural and process quality indicators of an emergency medical service

The benefits of a telemedical support system for prehospital emergency medical services include high-level emergency medical support at the push of a button: delegation of drug administration, diagnostic assistance, initiation of therapeutic measures, or choice of hospital destination. At various European EMS sites telemedical routine systems are shortly before implementation. The aim of this study was to investigate the long-term effects of implementing a tele-EMS system on the structural and procedural quality indicators and therefore performance of an entire EMS system. This retrospective study included all EMS missions in Aachen city between 2015 and 2021. Regarding structural indicators of the EMS system, we investigated the overall number of emergency missions with tele-EMS and onsite EMS physicians. Furthermore, we analyzed the distribution of tracer diagnosis and process quality with respect to the time spans on the scene, time until teleconsultation, duration of teleconsultation, prehospital engagement time, and number of simultaneous teleconsultations. During the 7-year study period, 229,384 EMS missions were completed. From 2015 to 2021, the total number of EMS missions increased by 8.5%. A tele-EMS physician was consulted on 23,172 (10.1%) missions. The proportion of telemedicine missions increased from 8.6% in 2015 to 12.9% in 2021. Teleconsultations for missions with tracer diagnoses decreased during from 43.7% to 30.7%, and the proportion of non-tracer diagnoses increased from 56.3% to 69.3%. The call duration for teleconsultation decreased from 12.07 min in 2015 to 9.42 min in 2021. For every fourth mission, one or more simultaneous teleconsultations were conducted by the tele-EMS physician on duty. The implementation and routine use of a tele-EMS system increased the availability of onsite EMS physicians and enabled immediate onsite support for paramedics. Parallel teleconsultations, reduction in call duration, and increase in ambulatory onsite treatments over the years demonstrate the increasing experience of paramedics and tele-EMS physicians with the system in place. A prehospital tele-EMS system is important for mitigating the current challenges in the prehospital emergency care sector.

Social Media’s Influence on Tourists’ Choice of Destination

Social media are web-based communication platforms that let users communicate and exchange information with one another. It is an online communication network that facilitates online engagement, content sharing, community feedback, and collaboration. This study mainly explores how vital social media is in influencing the tourists’ choice of destination. The study aims to assess tourists’ social media engagement, factors affecting reliance on it for travel planning, its impact on destination choice, the correlation between social media reliance and destination choice, and propose a framework for social media’s influence on destination selection. A quantitative correlational research method was used in this study. Further, the research is a population study where all the respondents were tourism management students of Saint Mary’s University. As for the data collection method, the researchers used survey questionnaires. The results revealed that Facebook is the most popular social media network, and most respondents said they used TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram for more than five hours each, while tourists spent less than 1 hour on Pinterest. Additionally, most of the respondents rely on social media to provide them with information about new travel locations. Images of popular tourist sites shared on social media platforms indicate the amount to which social media influences their destination selections. As a result, the two variables had a significant relationship, implying that tourists’ extensive reliance on social media for travel-related information also has a significant impact on the destinations tourists choose. Moreover, as illustrated in the framework created by the researchers, the social media that the respondents utilized, their reliance on social media for travel information, and social media’s influence on decision-making are all interrelated to travel planning.

Domestic leisure tourism destination choice and who do we trust-the case of Bulgaria

Destination marketing and branding are key factors that considerably influence the destination choices for both domestic and international visitors. Understanding the dynamics of how tourists select which destination to visit is crucial for destination planners, tourism organizations, and businesses. This is particularly so in the context of domestic tourism, in which it is imperative to study the factors that influence consumer choices and more specifically, the factors that influence domestic destination choices. This paper explores the influence of different information sources when choosing a destination in the context of the domestic tourism market in Bulgaria. The study is based on the data collected from a national representative survey (N = 1,003) which utilizes a two-staged random sample stratified by districts and the residence place type. The findings suggest that the most influential information source for destination choice for domestic visitors is the opinions/suggestions of friends and relatives. This is the case for all age groups, regardless of their gender, marital status, number of children, education levels, income, or place of residence. The findings of the study provide valuable insights into the existent literature on domestic tourism and destination marketing. Although particularly focused on the unique dynamics of domestic tourism in Bulgaria, the findings of the study can be useful to tourism stakeholders at destinations with a developed domestic market, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe.

The Role of Gastronomy in Shaping Tourist Experiences: A Study of Iloilo Province, Philippines

This study investigates the influence of gastronomy on tourism in Iloilo Province, Philippines, addressing the gap in literature on the interplay between local culinary practices and tourism dynamics in this region. Utilizing a qualitative methodology, insights were gathered from a diverse group of stakeholders, including local chefs, restaurant owners, tourists, and farmers. The findings reveal that gastronomy plays a pivotal role in shaping Iloilo’s cultural identity, serving as a medium for preserving and showcasing its rich heritage. Key local dishes such as talaba (oysters) and binakol (chicken soup), inasal, pancit molo, and most especially batchoy enhance the tourist experience, influencing their destination choices and likelihood of revisiting. The study underscores gastronomy’s dual role as a cultural expression and an economic driver, contributing to local development, community engagement, and sustainability. The emphasis on local produce and sustainable practices highlights the region’s commitment to environmental conservation and community empowerment. Integrating gastronomy more deeply into tourism strategies can significantly boost Iloilo Province’s appeal and competitiveness as a tourist destination, setting a model for other regions.

Workshop Synthesis: Innovations in travel survey collection to support long distance and tourism travel analyses

As researchers and practitioners seek to better understand and proactively plan for long-distance travel demand, they need data that characterizes the breadth and depth of long-distance travel decisions. In this workshop, we reviewed work from five presentations to draft guidance for integrating these sources to support travel analyses. Our workshop specifically considered (a) what data is needed for long distance and tourism travel analyses (including traveler profiles, trip characteristics, external travel, visitor travel, destination choices, mode choices, environmental impacts, economics, etc.), (b) the most appropriate methods for capturing this data, and (c) how to best integrate these different methods.

The Activity-based model ABIT: Modeling 24 hours, 7 days a week

The paper introduces the activity-based model ABIT as a novel approach to modeling travel demand. Traditional aggregate transport models are limited in their ability to assess certain transport policies, such as ride-pooling services and autonomous cars, due to their inability to accurately represent complex travel behaviors. ABIT generates weekly activity patterns for individuals, forming the basis for understanding habitual and incremental travel behavior. Unlike traditional models, ABIT can distinguish between day-to-day variations in travel behavior and more significant year-to-year changes. The model's base-year structure is described in detail, including steps for assigning habitual modes, mandatory activities, discretionary activities, subtours, duration, start times, destination choices, and vehicle allocation. The paper emphasizes the importance of habitual mode choice, especially in modeling commute modes. The results of ABIT show variations in activity frequency across different days of the week, with weekdays dominated by work and education activities, while weekends exhibit a higher proportion of discretionary activities. The paper acknowledges longer runtimes and random variations as potential limitations, suggesting caution in analyzing results at a fine- grained level.

Factors influencing weekend travel destination choice: A study in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam

Nowadays, weekend travel is gradually gaining people's attention due to societal impacts, with the desire to improve health, relax, rest, and entertain after days of exhausting work. Therefore, the development of weekend travel is a strategy of interest to managers and leaders, leading to intense competition among destinations. Although it has been long established worldwide, weekend travel in Vietnam has only recently gained popularity, primarily among young people. Therefore, researching the factors influencing the decision to choose weekend travel destinations is significant in developing strategies for this type of tourism. The research results show that the choice of weekend travel destinations by Ho Chi Minh City tourists is driven by various internal and external factors. Among them, internal motivations, income, convenience in the trip, the image of the destination, etc., are factors rated highly by tourists. There are significant differences in some internal and external factors according to age groups. Model testing and research hypotheses indicate that 66.4% of destination choices are influenced by the proposed factors in the model. Among them, the destination image has the most significant impact, followed by income, internal motivations, and distance. The remaining factors in the model have low or no impact on the satisfaction and commitment to return to weekend travel destinations for Ho Chi Minh City tourists.

Exploring tourist animosity and its influence on destination choices in the post-covid 19 eras: A study of Vietnamese independent travelers

Previous studies on consumer animosity have traditionally focused on the relationship between a single home country and a specific target country. This limited approach implies that animosity is contingent upon the unique dynamics between these two countries. However, this study seeks to broaden the conceptualization of consumer animosity by exploring its applicability to a pandemic health crisis, an area that has not been previously examined. While consumer animosity has been studied in economic, political, cultural, and religious contexts, its relevance within the context of a health crisis has not been thoroughly investigated. This study is to investigate tourist animosity towards different countries and its impact on the decision-making process for choosing a tourist destination, before and after a holiday. This study’s primary objectives were successfully accomplished through a comprehensive analysis, which entailed thoroughly examining and interpreting qualitative data procured from a total of seventeen semi-structured interviews conducted with meticulous care and attention to detail. The findings reveal that tourist animosities, including general animosity, war hartred, the threat of pandemics, and countries' policies regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, have a negative influence on tourists' intentions to visit, intentions to revisit, and their likelihood to spread positive word-of-mouth. The study also highlights that tourists frequently rely on online sources, such as government websites, to access tourism information and review countries' travel policies, even in the post-COVID-19 era. This research contributes to the understanding of the consumer animosity construct, which has been previously explored in the realms of economics, politics, culture, and religion but has not been applied to a pandemic health crisis before. Furthermore, the study investigates universal animosity, which encompasses animosity directed towards various countries and extends beyond country-specific causes, offering practical implications for the tourism industry in the post-pandemic era.

Japanese Pop Culture Events as Catalysts for Otaku Tourism: Shaping Destination Choices and Tourist Experiences

The otaku tourism trend represents a fusion of tourism dynamics and cultural interaction, fueled by a deep interest in Japanese pop culture, such as anime and manga. This research examines the impact of Japanese pop culture events on the development of otaku tourism. Using a mixed-methods approach, the research analyzed data from 364 questionnaires collected at events in four countries, along with semi-structured interviews with organizers. These events serve as powerful catalysts for promoting Japanese culture globally, creating immersive and memorable experiences, and inspiring participants to visit Japan. The findings highlight the key role of these events play in shaping tourist behavior, influencing destination choice, and increasing the appeal of otaku tourism. Furthermore, the study underscores the importance of these gatherings in facilitating global cultural exchange and deepening the connection between fans and Japanese culture. This research emphasizes the broader implications of otaku tourism on global tourism and cultural promotion.

ПЕРЕДУМОВИ ТА ФАКТОРИ РОЗВИТКУ ГАСТРОНОМІЧНОГО ТУРИЗМУ

This article examines the factors driving the development of gastronomic tourism as a contemporary and popular travel trend. The study identifies two primary groups of factors – general and specific – and provides their characteristics. Based on the analysis of these factors and their identified impact, the prerequisites for the development of gastronomic tourism are highlighted. The combination of these factors and prerequisites creates favorable conditions for the development and implementation of this type of tourism, popularization of ethnic cuisines and local features, as well as the improvement of dishes through competition under the influence of modern culinary art and consumer preferences. It is established that the set of factors and prerequisites is interconnected and integral, characterized by their mutual influence, however, in the work, they are ordered through classification and cultural and social factors, economic, infrastructural factors, the uniqueness of local cuisine, and the importance of state support are highlighted – all this allows for effective management of these prerequisites for the development of gastronomic tourism and building its strategy of popularization and formation. It is proven that there are also factors that influence the choice of a gastronomic destination, including: affordability, geographical location, climatic conditions, safety level, language barriers, personal interests, etc. In addition, the article presents a characterization of the target audience of gastrotours, namely, groups (types) of gastrotourists are identified: gourmets and food lovers, connoisseurs of culture and history, tourists traveling with family or friends, bloggers and influencers, health-conscious tourists, tourists seeking new experiences. Such a typological structuring will allow for more effective formation of marketing policy and taking into account all the features of gastronomic tourism and consumer preferences. The results of the study can be useful for developing effective strategies for the development of gastronomic tourism at the level of individual regions and countries, as well as for tourism companies wishing to expand their range of services.

MissII: Missing Information Imputation for Traffic Data

Cyber-Physical-Social Systems (CPSS) offer a new perspective for applying advanced information technology to improve urban transportation. However, real-world traffic datasets collected from sensing devices like loop sensors often contain corrupted or missing values. The incompleteness of traffic data poses great challenges to downstream data analysis tasks and applications. Most existing data-driven methods only impute missing values based on observed data or hypothetical models, thus ignoring the incorporation of social world information into traffic data imputation. The connection between real-world social activities and CPSS is crucial. In this paper, a novel theory-guided traffic data imputation framework, namely MissII, is proposed. In MissII, we first estimate the traffic flow between two PoIs (Points of Interest) according to spatial interaction theory by considering the physical environment information (e.g., population distributions) and human social interactions (e.g., destination choice game). Moreover, we further refine the estimated traffic flow by considering the effects of road interactions and PoIs. Then, the estimated traffic flow is input into the non-parametric GAN model as real samples to guide the training process. Extensive experiments are conducted on real-world traffic dataset to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed framework.

Social Media Influence on Tourist Destination Choices among the Students of Higher Education

Social Media Influence on Tourist Destination Choices among the Students of Higher Education

Factors Affecting the Choice of Eco-Tourism Destinations by Hanoi Residents: A Case Study of Dong Do Lake - Soc Son

Dong Do Lake is an ecotourism destination exuding pristine beauty, enveloped by the lush greenery of nature. Beyond admiring the unspoiled landscapes, visitors to Dong Do Lake can engage in a multitude of captivating activities, including camping, boating, and indulging in BBQ feasts. In order to investigate the determinants of choosing Dong Do Lake ecotourism destination by Hanoi residents, the research team employed a quantitative research method based on data collected from a survey of 300 individuals, including 159 people who had previously visited Dong Do Lake for ecotourism purposes. The data was cleaned and processed using SMARTPLS software. The research results indicate that, with a 95% confidence level, the "Attitude towards the Dong Do Lake ecotourism destination" (ATT) has the strongest impact on the decision to choose Dong Do Lake ecotourism destination by Hanoi residents, with an impact level of 0.357. Next is the factor "Communication Strategy of the Dong Do Lake ecotourism destination" (CS) with an impact level of 0.249, followed by the factor "Travel Costs" (TC) with an impact level of 0.225, and the factor "Reference Group" (RG) with an impact level of 0.196. Based on the analysis results, the research team provides some discussion points to promote the decision to choose Dong Do Lake ecotourism destination for both people in general and Hanoi people in particular