International Visitors Research Articles

Unraveling Tourists’ Experience of a Cremation Site: A Text Mining Approach

This article investigates the experiences of tourists visiting a cremation site, an unconventional tourist destination. By analyzing online reviews collected from TripAdvisor, using text mining and natural language processing (NLP) techniques, the study aims to fill the gaps in the literature on tourists’ experiences at cremation sites. The study explores the differences in the experiences of Indian domestic tourists and those from other cultural backgrounds. This study applies the views of Urry’s gaze theory and Stone’s dark tourism classification theory to discuss the tourists’ experiences. The results reveal significant differences in the experiences of Indian and international tourists. The emotion of foreign tourists lies with the existential and philosophical dimension, and Indian tourists are more connected with religious and mythological dimensions. The results validate Urry’s gaze theory and disagree with Stone’s dark tourism classification. This research contributes to the existing knowledge of dark tourism by providing valuable insights into tourists’ experiences at unconventional sites. Furthermore, the study highlights the importance of location managers understanding the significance of tourists’ experiences at sites to create enjoyable tours for domestic and international visitors. The article will benefit casual vacationers, academics, and scholars specializing in dark tourism, travelers??? narratives, online reviews, NLP, and trip organizers.

Communication with international visitors

Abstract According to Statistics Estonia, in 2022, there were 170 museums in Estonia with 277 visitor sites, all of which contribute to preserving, shaping, and communicating our memory and identity, translating our culture to the people of Estonia and international visitors alike. Among European countries, Estonia has the most museums per 100,000 inhabitants. In 2022, nearly 2.5 million people visited museums, which makes 1,769 attendances per 1000 inhabitants. Museum translation is integral to translation studies but has not been thoroughly studied in Estonia. The article attempts to reflect on the communicative potential of interlingual translation in the University of Tartu Museum, using the concepts developed in museum translation research. Estonia is an interesting case for discussion because, while it is a country with a very small population, it is a multilingual country, where about 30% of the population do not speak Estonian as their first language. As a small and multilingual country, museums cannot rely on Estonian-speaking visitors only; they also depend on foreign visitors. The research objective is to find out how the University of Tartu Museum communicates with visitors who do not understand Estonian and what communicative strategies have been used in the past.

Determinant factors of gross domestic product (GDP) in Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries

Background The gross domestic product (GDP) of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states can be used to determine their overall economic growth. In order to increase GDP, all emerging nations in Southeast Asia are stating to depend on foreign direct investment (FDI), the tourism industry, international visitors visiting ASEAN member nations banking credit, and low inflation rates. High inflation is a problem that developed and developing countries will definitely face. One of the problems faced by ASEAN member countries is that most of the member countries are in the developing country category. For ASEAN member countries, high inflation levels will encourage economic instability. GDP is less than optimal because of these classic problems in developing countries so that economic growth is not as planned. The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), which ASEAN established, is seen as a way to reduce unemployment, alleviate poverty by boosting the travel and tourism industry and increasing investment, as well as to offer or distribute credit to businesses at low interest rates in order to boost GDP. The purpose of this study is to investigate and analyze how the GDP of ASEAN member nations is affected by FDI, foreign visitors, bank credit, and inflation. s: We analyzed panel data for seven ASEAN members from 2002 to 2020. FDI, foreign tourists, banking credit, and inflation are the research factors examined as independent variables that have an impact on GDP, the dependent variable. Results The study’s findings indicate that while inflation has a large negative impact on GDP, FDI, foreign tourism, and bank credit have a considerable positive impact on GDP. Conclusions FDI, foreign tourists, bank credit, and inflation have a significant influence on GDP in ASEAN member countries.

Understanding Tourists’ Social Networking Site (SNS) Intention with Regards to World Heritage Sites: The Role of Motivation and Overall Image

With the growing recognition of sustainability and environmental protection, World Heritage Sites (WHSs) are becoming popular destinations among tourists. To promote heritage destinations in South Korea via social networking site (SNS) platforms, the importance of joint support from tourists to share their experiences should be emphasized. In this research, we aimed to assess the formation process of WHS tourists’ SNS intentions by adopting concepts of travel motivation and overall image. As a part of this study, a survey was conducted among 238 tourists currently living in South Korea who have visited WHSs within the country. The survey results showed that cultural, travel, and social motives led to the construction of the overall destination image. The overall image also affects SNS intention in a positive and significant regard. We also examined the mediating effect of overall image on the relationship between motives and SNS intention. The findings of this study provide further theoretical and practical contributions that can be used to help analyze tourists’ motivations and increase the number of international visitors to a particular country.

Visitors’ experience in a coastal heritage context: A segmentation analysis and its influence on in situ destination image and loyalty

Understanding visitors’ actual behaviour is key for tourist destinations to define strategies for different subgroups of experience-based visitors. The few studies that have analysed the influence of the intensity of visitors’ on-site experience on the formation of destination image also considered intentions and did not analyse its influence on loyalty. Also, existing research on previous experience with the destination or experiential familiarity has considered repeat visitors as a homogeneous group and failed to identify different patterns of experience. This study aims to overcome these gaps by grouping visitors based on their degree of experience (i.e., previous and on- site experience related to coastal and maritime cultural heritage activities) and ascertaining the extent to which a) the impressions of the destination and b) degree of loyalty of the visitors in subgroups differ. The sample included 720 questionnaires from domestic and international visitors in Aveiro, Portugal, leading to three groups with varying degrees of past and on-site experience: “destination enthusiasts”, “destination and heritage enthusiasts” and “destination and heritage discoverers”, thus supporting the intersection of these variables as valid for market segmentation. All groups presented dissimilar cognitive images and different levels of loyalty, but no differences were found in the affective image.

International Mobility and Knowledge Exchange Between China and the West: A Study of Chinese Humanities and Social Sciences Scholars

Purpose This study examines the impact of international academic mobility on knowledge exchange between China and the West, including its potential benefits and risks, specifically in the humanities and social sciences (HSS) fields. Design/Approach/Methods This study employed qualitative research methods; specifically, data were collected through interviews and analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings With increasing knowledge flows in global academia, Chinese HSS scholars are benefiting from international academic mobility. They engage in various activities, such as international visits, conferences, and research collaborations, and praise the role of mobility in building an understanding of Western culture and knowledge, including research dynamics, embodied and encultured knowledge, and location-specific textual materials. However, international mobility has inadvertently exacerbated global knowledge asymmetries, with some Chinese scholars uncritically adopting Western paradigms. Nonetheless, pioneering Chinese HSS scholars aim to promote a two-way knowledge exchange between China and the West by fostering cultural reflexivity and enhancing their global visibility. Originality/Value Chinese HSS scholars serve as an illuminating example in the context of global knowledge asymmetries dominated by the Anglo-American West. These findings have theoretical and practical implications for fostering equitable and inclusive knowledge exchange between Western and non-Western societies through international academic mobility.

Questions of scale sensitivity, experience and branding culture in and beyond Hans Christian Andersen's House

With a new museum, Hans Christian Andersen's House, the Danish city of Odense has intensified the relationship between the nineteenth-century author, a son of the city, and the architectural spaces of today. The museum opened in 2021 but has drawn much attention since 2016 when Kengo Kuma and Associates were announced as winners of the competition to design this new house of fairy tales. The combination of Andersen, a cherished author whose works are read worldwide, and Kuma, an esteemed world-famous architect, seemed a perfect match to secure attention from a wider public and attract local and international visitors. The museum's architecture and urban garden form a focal point in the exhibition design but are also central elements in a larger transformation project in Odense. Entangled in all this is Andersen: his fairy tales, his personality, and the places he lived in Odense. The article explores how experiential visions and branding culture are balanced, and argues that the museum was created with a sensitivity towards different scales that form the relations with the museum's contexts. How such scale sensitivity is connected to the materiality, spaces, and bodily experiences of the museum is analysed through theories by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Celia Lury.

Improving migration forecasting for transitory foreign tourists using an Ensemble DNN-LSTM model

The tourism industry is a key component in many nations’ economies, and precise Forecasting of the number of arrivals of transient international visitors is necessary for efficient resource allocation and strategic planning. Traditional approaches for predicting time series need to catch up when capturing the intricate patterns and interdependencies in data about visitor movement. To overcome this obstacle, we have developed a model that combines Ensemble Deep Neural Networks (EDNN) with Long Short-Term Memories (LSTM) to enhance migration predictions. EDNNs learn complex patterns from historical data, whereas LSTMs model sequential relationships. We start with data from the study-based Migration Forecasting for Transitory Foreign Tourists. The data was preprocessed using Adaptive mean filter (AMF) methods. We used Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) to look at different configurations for extracting features. The EDNN-LSTM method had better results than its comparison in terms of a wide range of performance measures having an accuracy of 97%, an MAE of 40.75%, an MSE of 33.10%, and an RMSE of 30.10%. According to the results, the EDNN-LSTM model can represent the intricate dynamics of transitory foreign visitor movement. Consequently, this model is a useful resource for tourism stakeholders, policymakers, and enterprises.

Forecasting Türkiye's International Tourism Demand

The structure of tourist demand is sensitive since it is very easily affected by the consequences of economic, political, and social crises. Since the limited ability to increase tourism supply, it is crucial to analyze the demand structure and develop suitable strategies. This outcome can only be achieved by an accurate and effective demand prediction. There is no singular approach that ensures success in demand forecasting. Hence, in order to estimate demand accurately, it is advisable to create many models and choose the one with the lowest error rate. This study aimed to develop the best-performing prediction model by using monthly data of international visitors who visited Türkiye from January 2002 to August 2023 and stayed in Tourism Ministry-certified accommodations. Within this framework, the data was first analyzed to identify the trend and seasonal component. Afterwards, various models were employed including Naive III, simple moving average, double moving average, seasonal exponential smoothing, and artificial neural networks. The data generated by these models has been analyzed by comparing it with the actual data from the last 24 months, using MAPE and RMSE results. According to the research findings, it has been determined that artificial neural networks produce the most accurate results.

Decoding Differences in Nature Park Visitors’ Experience

This article aims to explore the discourse construction through the institutional apparatus and technologies within Pyhä-Luosto National Park, one of the first two national parks established in Finland, by analysing visitors’ reviews. This article investigates the causes behind the differing levels of emphasis that tourists of various languages (Finnish and other languages) and cultural backgrounds place on environmental values or physical activities during their visits. By employing a mixed-methods approach, merging quantitative (frequency analysis) and qualitative (discourse analysis) methodologies, the analysis reveals a distinct divergence in the visitor experiences of the national park based on the background of visitors. Finnish-speaking visitors exhibit a stronger preference for landscape, while international visitors empha- size the experiences derived from physical activities. Through a closer field study in Pyhä- Luosto National Park, it is proposed that these differences originate from distinct cultural contexts and environmental engagements that shape each visitor’s interaction with the natural landscape.

La comunicazione turistica plurilingue: il Progetto “Museo poliglotta"

Tourism communication, especially since the digital turn, has registered several attempts to open to new forms of multilingualism. For instance, the traditional multilingual experience offered by guided tours and audio guides has now been enhanced by social networking tools. Recent research points to the need of interdisciplinary work at the crossroads of linguistics, media sciences and museum studies to investigate communication strategies and linguistic devices by means of which an international audience of tourists can be addressed and get involved in museums in the digital age. The present paper illustrates the first findings of the project “Museo poliglotta”, a project run by two universities in the Italian towns of Bergamo and Brescia in cooperation with local museums with the goal of producing digital multilingual contents for international museum visitors. The empirical part of the paper describes a workshop activity in which students developed Instagram reels in Italian, German and English on the figure of the well-known Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. A number of observations lead to the conclusion that synergies between language research and foreign language teaching on the one hand and museum institutions on the other can bring about important benefits for all parties involved, in particular the possibility to offer professionalising training in the academic world and stimuli to innovate and improve multilingual communication in the museum sector.

Importance of Hospitality Industry on Indian Economy

The Hotel industry in India has evolved remarkably over the decade and in effect parading quite a wide spectrum of benefits and opportunities for players of the service industry. The industry is statistically proven to have performed creditably countrywide and among its major cities. It is considered to a larger extent that the hotel industry flourishes on the wings of the tourism Industry. The Hotel and Tourism sector is considered among the top ten sectors in India. As a results of its contribution, the Hotel and Tourism sector attracted around US$ 9.2 billion of FDI between April 2000 and March 2016 as released by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP). The demand for travel and tourism in India is expected to grow annually by 8.2% which is expected to put India third in the world. Travel and tourism in India also accounted for 49,086,000 jobs in 2010 (about 10% of total employment) and is expected to rise to 58,141,000 jobs (10.4% of total employment) by 2020. According to the Economic Survey of India the Indian Hotel industry accounts for USD 17 billion, 70% (USD 11.85 billion) which take their origin from the unorganized sector and the remaining 30% (USD 5.08 billion) from the organized sector. In 2000, India hosted only 2.6 million international visitors. By 2009, the figure had already increased to 5.13 million arrivals. Over the years, a sustained increase in the tourism industry with increase in number of foreign and domestic tourists has serve as a booster to the Hotel industry. This study makes an exploratory attempt to study the Hotel industry as it relates to India and analyses its contributory effects on the economy on the heels of the various reforms that have hit the country. The objectives of the study are to analyze and assess the performance of the Hotel Industry in India and to identify the challenges and setbacks of the industry. Data was collected primarily from secondary sources. The findings of the study revealed that there have been a substantial growth in operating performance indicators such as revenue and a decreased countrywide departmental expenses. It was therefore concluded that India's hotel sector has unequivocally entered the next up-cycle with impressive performance suggesting that players of the industry have the onerous responsibility and duty to capitalize on this and make the best out of the industry

A typology of residents’ travel safety perceptions and geopolitical border hesitancy

Global crises prime travel safety perceptions and foster hesitancy to cross intra- and inter-country borders, significantly shifting travel flows. Tourism's post-crisis recovery is typically driven by domestic travel while international travel returns lag, leading many tourism destination managers to monitor resident travel safety perceptions and willingness to welcome domestic and international visitors. This study uses latent class analysis to model heterogeneity in travel safety perceptions among residents during the most recent global crisis and to profile the characteristics of people with different travel safety perceptions to understand the influence of geopolitical borders. Parameter estimates support a five-cluster typology of Unfettered Travel, Nationwide Travel, Cautioned Travel, Averse To All Travel, and Localized Travel. All clusters feel safest traveling in their community and least safe traveling internationally, similarly for welcoming visitors. Notably, crossing a border, even within one's province and country where boundaries are invisible, causes feelings of safety to decline. The results reveal the significant impact on travel sentiments of geography and borders between communities and provinces where traffic may flow without formal customs requirements. The effect of intra-country borders provides new insight into domestic travel flows.

Nation-branding Opportunities Through Sport Mega-events: Tourism Impact from FIFA World Cup in South Africa 2010 and Qatar 2022

Sport mega-events can be powerful agents in the imaging, re-imaging and branding of places, especially for emerging mega-event host nations. South Africa was the first African country to host the FIFA World Cup in 2010 and is a good case of how nation-branding opportunities were leveraged to showcase its global engagement, re-emergence post-apartheid, and its competence as a tourism and mega-event host. Similarly, Qatar’s hosting of the 2022 FIFA World Cup is a region-first for the Middle East. Hosting the World Cup is aligned to Qatar’s strategic leveraging of sport to build a new image, acquire global recognition as a world-class venue for major events, sport sponsorships, and state-of-the-art stadiums. Yet Qatar, like South Africa, was confronted with significant detractors and negative media coverage in the lead-up to its hosting. This paper compares nation-brand perceptions collected from international visitors to the respective mega-events. The studies aimed to identify any changes to these brand perceptions because of their visit to these nations. It utilises the same instrument and method; with the survey instrument for 2010 adapted for Qatar to increase its relevance. A total of 561 (South Africa) and 421 (Qatar) international visitors were interviewed at event and tourist locations, using a spatially based, purposive sampling approach. The findings reveal how visitor perceptions changed in both instances. It reveals nuances in profiling mega-event sport tourists and contrasts expected nation-branding legacies for host nations, especially in emerging nation contexts. 

Strategi Mengatasi Aksesibilitas Destinasi Pulau Kecil Dengan Penyesuaian Segmentasi Wisatawan Kepulauan Riau

A prevalent challenge encountered by small islands pertains to accessibility. Nevertheless, numerous ostensibly isolated islands attract a substantial number of tourists. This article examines the relationship between accessibility and tourism development on small islands to understand the two better. Qualitative data collection methods were utilized for this study, including in-depth interviews, the collection of pertinent secondary data, and field observations. Following analysis, the collected data were presented in a comparative descriptive fashion. A discussion of the island approach (islands and archipelagos) is undertaken to comprehend the interconnections between minor islands and other locations within the larger region. Field research indicates that despite possessing the aesthetic appeal of beaches and sea, many small islands still need to exploit their tourism potential fully. This is primarily due to the exorbitant transportation expenses for domestic visitors and the need for adequate tourism infrastructure, including resorts and hotels of international caliber catering to affluent-class tourists (middle and above). Conversely, despite being classified as remote islands, the Riau Archipelago maintains strong diplomatic relations with neighboring nations. It can attract international visitors for cultural tourism, beach activities, and scuba diving. Small islands may benefit from a strategy targeting affluent classes and foreign tourists. In order to develop the tourist experience on small islands by expectations, it is necessary to enhance tourism infrastructure and services for tourists and tourism investors as a result of targeting the tourist segment.

Examining the moderating effect of host country image on the relationship between tourists’ motivation and their intention to visit mega sporting events in India

This study uses the self-determination theory of motivation to examine the impact of tourists’ motivations on their intention to attend mega sporting events held in a developing nation such as India. The present study utilized partial least square-based structural equation modeling to examine the proposed hypotheses. The data for this study were collected from a sample of 348 international visitors who visited India in January 2023 to attend the fifteenth edition of the Hockey World Cup. The results of this study have validated that the two elements of extrinsic motivation, specifically perceived benefit and perceived risk, exert a substantial influence on visitors’ propensity to visit India. Similarly, the intrinsic travel motivation elements of cultural experience and self-accomplishment are found to positively influence the visit intention of international tourists seeking to partake in the Hockey World Cup in India. On the other hand, the cosmopolitanism dimension of intrinsic drive does not have a statistically significant impact on the intention of these tourists to visit India. This study additionally verified that the perception of a country strongly influences the relationship between extrinsic and intrinsic motivational factors and the tourist’s intention to visit India.

Perceptions on Cultural Ecosystem Services of World Cultural Heritages in Beijing: A cross-cultural Comparison of Social Media-based Online Reviews and Images

This study introduces an innovative approach combining social media text and image comments to quantify the perceptual differences of cultural ecosystem services among various sociocultural groups. For five World Heritage Sites in Beijing, natural-language processing classifies visitor perceptions using social media comments and image data, and importance-performance analysis quantifies the differences between Chinese and international visitor perceptions of these cultural ecosystem services. For the six perceived cultural ecosystem service categories, cross-cultural and local visitors exhibit the same satisfaction trends. In particular, international tourists assign higher importance scores for a given cultural ecosystem service than Chinese tourists. The proposed methods incur a lower cost than traditional methods and acquire large volumes of broad-ranging data. Additionally, the importance of‒the performance analysis data-acquisition method is improved. Moreover, World Heritage Site sustainability can be promoted by understanding the different heritage tourism perceptions of different cultural groups. Furthermore, this study provides valuable insights for decision-makers to improve tourism management and conservation strategies.

Modelling of Virtual Campus Tour in Minecraft

Virtual tours have revolutionized the way to explore and experience places from the comfort of our own home. Through advanced technology and immersive digital platforms, virtual tours offer a compelling alternative to tradition face-to-face visits. Whether a famous landmark, museum, real estate or natural wonders, virtual tours offer a unique opportunity to navigate and discover these places form a distance. Meanwhile, creating a virtual tour in Minecraft can provide a unique and immersive experience that sets the users apart from other virtual tour platforms. Minecraft is one of the most popular video games in the world and boasts a large and dedicated community of players. Using Minecraft for a virtual tour allow users to reach a larger audience who are already familiar with the game, increasing the likelihood of engagement and participation. In this paper, the aim is to create a virtual campus tour in Minecraft to give the visitors an immersive and interactive experience with creative freedom. A series of buildings have been built such as Siti Hasmah Digital Library, Common Lecture Complex (CLC) and Smart Lab. Visitors can move around the campus with some gameplay mechanics using mouse and keyboard. Building information was also integrated so visitors can see details about each building during the virtual tour. The virtual tour provides access, comfort and a sense of connection to prospective students, their families and international visitors. Additionally, it serves as a low-cost marketing tool that increases engagement, attracts potential students, researchers and staff and ultimately benefits the University’s recruitment efforts.

Visitors’ environmental attitudes and willingness to pay for nature conservation: the case of Langtang National Park in the Himalayas

<p>National parks are a destination for nature-based tourism (NBT) in both the developed and developing countries. National Park visitors with pro-environmental attitudes may be more likely to support the management's conservation efforts. However, managing and funding national parks and protected areas is a significant challenge, particularly in low-income countries. Visitor entrance fees to national parks are an often-heard option to secure sustainable funding for the management. This study aimed to measure environmental attitude and willingness to pay (WTP) for park entrance fees of international visitors to Langtang National Park in the Nepal Himalayas. The New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale was applied to assess environmental attitude, while a contingent valuation survey was carried out to explore WTP. International visitors of the park (n= 476) were surveyed over two years. The survey results suggest that national park visitors exhibited comparatively high pro-environmental attitudes, with a NEP score of 3.72 (5 being the highest score). Visitors were willing to pay a new entrance fee of USD 57.51 (mean) in comparison to the existing fee of USD 30. The willingness to pay a higher entry fee was positively correlated with a pro-environmental attitude and income. The increase in entrance fees could significantly improve the funding of national parks in Nepal and lead to an upgrade of its infrastructures without reducing the overall number of visitors.</p>

Experiencing Cambodia’s Living Arts through Tourism

Summary Experience Cambodian Living Arts (CLA) was a nightly program showcasing traditional Cambodian arts to tourists while providing employment opportunities to artists. Produced by the Cambodia-based non-profit organization CLA for nearly a decade, this program used tourism as a platform for sharing traditional arts while also earning revenue to support other arts initiatives and providing employment to several of its arts students. This case study offers a glimpse into the arts-based programming of CLA, an organization based in Cambodia that has worked to revitalize traditional arts and inspire younger generations to engage with the arts over the past 25 years. ‘Experience CLA’ was one of the organization’s programs that offered nightly performances of traditional dance, music and performing arts between 2011 and 2020. These performances stood at the heart of CLA’s efforts in sharing traditional arts with international visitors through tourism, providing a platform for employment to young Cambodian artists, as well as helping the organization to earn revenue. However, due to the impact of COVID-19 on tourism as well as CLA adopting a new mission and vision that positioned it as more of an arts catalyst, rather than as an arts provider, the ‘Experience CLA’ program came to an end in 2020 as the organization began to shift its role in the Cambodian arts community. Information © The Authors 2024