Leisure Tourism Research Articles

Implementation of IoT-Based Smart Tourism Destination Tools as Tourism Leisure 5.0

Due to its ability to create commercial opportunities that local communities can manage, tourism is a well-known industry with significant development potential. Information technology has had significant advancements in its application within the tourism industry, and its implementation is now commencing in Indonesia. The use of IoT technology in the tourism industry necessitates a series of sequential stages, culminating in the establishment of a comprehensive information platform that facilitates the monitoring and administration of tourism activities. Utilizing IoT technology to construct a tourist platform helps expedite the process of integrating information and infrastructure while effectively leveraging smart technology in the tourism sector. The research methodology employed is a hybrid approach. The data outputs are processed and evaluated using a strategy that caters to the interests of the community and parties involved in the collaborative development of smart tourism, both qualitatively and quantitatively. The analysis stage uses the theory of visual perception as a way to understand what the desired implementation of IoT-based smart tourism looks like. This is shown in the selection stage. Meanwhile, this investigation concluded with a technological readiness level of five. The research was conducted without any prior investigation that aligned with the themes, tools, and objects employed by the researchers, representing the current state of the art. Furthermore, the research team comprises specialists in the domain of information systems, including two members who possess expertise in information systems and languages. This ensures a comprehensive grasp of the tools utilized in model development, collaboration, and the potential for technological advancement. In addition to the desired outcome, this is an Internet of Things (IoT)-based intelligent tourism system that may be utilized as a tool in many tourist destinations across Indonesia.

Personalised leisure tourism route recommendation method based on knowledge map

Personalised leisure tourism route recommendation method based on knowledge map

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.

Tourist’s motivations to visit the Western Region of Portugal

The Western Region, located in the Central Region of Portugal, has a vast and rich natural and cultural heritage allowing a wide range of tourist experiences. Consequently, the aim of this study is to analyse the tourist interests and motivations that lead tourists to visit the Western Region of mainland Portugal. In 2021, 355 individuals were surveyed through a questionnaire survey, mostly living in mainland Portugal. The results reveal that the preferences of respondents for the types of tourism they most like or would like to undergo in the Western Region are Sun and Sea Tourism, Leisure Tourism, Cultural Tourism, Adventure and Nature Tourism, and Gastronomic Tourism. This study may contribute to a better understanding of the tourists’ motivations to visit the Western Region, and may be an important contribution to the tourism management entities, in order for them to enhance and/or improve their offers in this region of Portugal.

The effect of exchange rate (regime) on Botswana’s inbound leisure tourism demand

The effect of exchange rate (regime) on Botswana’s inbound leisure tourism demand

The role of experiential familiarity in shaping hotel-chain competitiveness

PurposeThis study aims to examine the role of experiential familiarity in determining the competitiveness of hotel chains. It does so by comparing the attribute-performance perceptions of guests who had and had not previously stayed at a property belonging to a specific hotel chain. It also examines how far such perceptions shape word-of-mouth and future purchase intentions.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 1,016 Finnish leisure tourists in 2021 using an online questionnaire, providing a representative sample of Finnish domestic leisure tourists.FindingsThe results indicate that the competitiveness of different hotel chains depends on a small number of key attributes. Differentiation between hotel chains can be seen from the results. Previous guests rate hotel chain attributes more highly than non-previous guests. Behavioral intentions do not differ between previous and non-previous guests, but how many times a person has stayed in the hotel chain significantly influences behavioral intentions. The results provide strategic levers that hotel chains can use to enhance their competitiveness.Practical implicationsHotels should invest in attributes that have the biggest positive impact on customer behavior. These will be different for different hotel chains. By understanding these differences, it is possible to communicate relevant attributes to customers through marketing and develop hotel features that will drive revisit intention and word-of-mouth marketing.Originality/valueThis study found that while certain hotel attributes had a significant shaping effect on guests’ performance ratings, there were no decisive differences between those with or without experiential familiarity with the hotel chain.

The achievement of carbon emission reduction targets for three typical tourism industries: A coordinated analysis based on efficiency and potential

The cultural, leisure, and natural tourism industries are selected, which are the greatest tourism carbon emitters and have significantly different carbon sources and sinks. We analyzed the realization mechanism of tourism emission reduction, classified their emission reduction capability coordinated efficiency and potential, and analyze their preferential implementation strategies. Our results show that: (1) The direction of tourism emission reduction includes increasing the value-added potential of desired and undesired outputs and improving the technologies in tourism energy-saving and emission-reduction. (2) The average emission reduction potentials are 51.31%, 59.99%, and 42.01% for the cultural, leisure, and natural tourism industries, respectively, and the average net carbon efficiencies are 0.578, 0.650, and 0.602, respectively. (3) For the cultural tourism, the strategy of reducing the tourism output inefficiency (S-ROIE) is optimal for provinces with high-efficiency and high-potential; the strategy of reducing the carbon emission inefficiency (S-REIE) is optimal for provinces with high-efficiency and low-potential; the S-ROIE is optimal for regions with low-efficiency and low-potential; the strategy of technology progress in energy-saving (S-ESTP) is optimal for provinces with low-efficiency and high-potential. (4) For the leisure tourism, the S-ESTP is optimal for provinces with high-efficiency and high-potential; the S-REIE is optimal for provinces with high-efficiency and low-potential; the S-ROIE is optimal for provinces with low-efficiency and low-potential; the strategy of technology progress in emission reduction (S-ERTP) is optimal for provinces with low-efficiency and high-potential. (5) For the natural tourism, the S-REIE is optimal for provinces with high-efficiency and high-potential; the S-ROIE is optimal for provinces with high-efficiency and low-potential; the S-ERTP is optimal for provinces with low-efficiency and low-potential; the S-REIE is optimal for provinces with low-efficiency and high-potential

Evaluation of cultural ecosystem services in mountain-type scenic areas: an importance-performance analysis of the Road of Tang Poetry in Eastern Zhejiang, China

ABSTRACT The Road of Tang Poetry in Eastern Zhejiang is a cultural route where nature and culture harmoniously intertwine. Mountain-type scenic areas play a vital role in providing core cultural ecosystem services (CES). To investigate the significance and distribution of landscape resources along the Poetry Road, a preliminary study was conducted in the densely concentrated areas of Shaoxing, Taizhou, and Ningbo. From these regions, six representative mountain-type scenic areas were selected for the research: Kuaiji Mountain, Qinwang Mountain, Wanwei Mountain, Tianmu Mountain, Tiantai Mountain, and Xuedou Mountain. Based on their designation status, these areas were categorized into national and non-national scenic areas. The research employed a combination of online and offline questionnaires, as well as semi-structured interviews. An importance-performance analysis (IPA) was introduced, and SPSS software was utilized to conduct U-tests on the statistical results. This analysis aimed to compare the differences in importance and performance of CES among the various mountain-type scenic areas. Furthermore, an overall evaluation of CES for the mountain-type scenic area was carried out using an optimization demand zoning approach, involving categories such as “Keeping up the good job”, “Concentrate here”, “Possible overkill”, and “Low priority”. Additionally, a comparative analysis was conducted between the two types of mountain-type scenic areas, considering aspects like aesthetic value, leisure tourism, cultural diversity, and nature education. The findings indicate that the overall importance of the core CES provided by mountain-type scenic areas significantly exceeds the performance score, implying that public expectations for these sites surpass the actual experience. Notably, the distinction between the two types of mountain-type scenic areas, national and non-national, lies primarily in their performance. Among the evaluation subcomponents, respondents’ perceptions are notably influenced by natural resource advantages, architectural style, recreation offerings, site iconicity, and historical heritage and preservation. The abundance of cultural activities emerges as a crucial factor contributing to the substantial performance disparity between the two types of scenic areas, underscoring the significant impact of cultural heritage on the development imbalance in mountain-type region. Furthermore, cultural heritage plays a pivotal role in promoting the establishment and enhancing the competitiveness and identity of mountain-type scenic areas. Consequently, prioritizing the protection and utilization of non-national mountain-type scenic areas cultural heritage can effectively elevate the level of CES supply and meet the demand in mountain-type scenic areas. The IPA has promoted the CES performance of mountain-type scenic areas to be closer to its importance, thereby fostering a more balanced CES of the Road of Tang Poetry in Eastern Zhejiang.

Does tourism reduce the shadow economy? An international evidence

This paper investigates one of the positive contributions of tourism to the economy through the lens of its influences on the shadow economy. Specifically, our study analyzes the effects of five indicators of tourism consumption (including domestic tourism spending, international travel and tourism consumption, business tourism spending, leisure tourism spending, and outbound tourism spending on the percentage of shadow economy to GDP) in 129 economies between 1996 and 2015. We find interesting results that contribute to the existing literature about tourism economics. Firstly, the development of the inbound tourism industry reduces the shadow economy significantly, while outbound tourism causes higher underground economic activities. Secondly, the influence of tourism on the shadow economy is significant in both the short-run and long run with a stronger effect in the long run. Thirdly, the effect of tourism on the shadow economy is more significant in the 42 High-Income Economies and 54 Low and Lower-middle Income Economies, while it is less obvious in the 33 Upper-Middle Income Economies. These findings have been checked by a battery of robustness checks ensuring their statistical consistency.

Assessing the Impact of Rural Multifunctionality on Non-Point Source Pollution: A Case Study of Typical Hilly Watershed, China

In the context of rural development and transformation, it is crucial to identify the impact of rural multifunctionality on non-point source (NPS) pollution. This study applies the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), geographical detector, and principal component analysis in Liyang, a typical hilly subbasin in China, in order to assess the rural multifunctional development that influences the spatial differentiation of NPS pollution and detect the interactive effects of rural multifunctionality. The R2 and NSE demonstrated that the calibrated SWAT model successfully simulated NPS pollution in Liyang. The village scale was identified as the optimal research scale for examining the rural multifunctional development on NPS pollution distribution. The rural multifunctional indicators, such as the proportion of vegetable farming, sowing area, and grain farming, would influence NPS distribution. The number of family farming cooperatives, the area of pond farming, and the nature reserves area were also significant. The rural multifunctionality in Liyang could be classified into five categories: grain production, mixed agriculture, ecological conservation, leisure tourism, and industry and business function. The superposition of rural multifunctionality has a strengthening effect on NPS pollution, especially when the ecological conservation function is combined with the grain production or modern agriculture function. The study could provide NPS pollution control strategies for policymaking in rural multifunctional development.

Not only Adventurous but also Leisure: Re-defining Tourism in Tanzanian Mount Kilimanjaro National Park

The highest mountainous tourism destinations in the world receive few numbers of tourists both domestic and international. Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa is not exceptional. This is because mountains are famous as adventure destinations due to the associated risks during trekking the summit. Consequently, only risk-taker tourists trek mountains. The objective of this study is to profile attractions in Mount Kilimanjaro’s altitudinal gradients to attract adventurous, acrophobic (fear of heights), and leisure tourists using a mixed-method approach. The results revealed that each altitudinal gradient harbours unique attractions. At an altitude of 1800 -2800masl, leisure, and acrophobic tourists experience endemic forest flowers like ‘touch-me-not’ or impatiens‘and viola, and diverse wildlife species. Between 2800 and 4000 masl, floristic tourists enjoy giant groundsels, such as senecio and lobelia and the Shiraplateau. At 4000 -5000masl, where semi-adventurous hope to experience nothing, the study found attractive rocks with unique shapes like a cathedral, turtle, mushrooms, and captivating striped Zebra-like rocks. Finally, above 5000masl, the adventurer tourists experience dazzling stars at night, the snow in the tropics, and the summit. The study concludes that the diversification of attractions is likely to draw a variety of tourists, thus, boosting the overall number of tourists. Therefore, in order to increase revenue generated from tourism, tourism planners should market mountains as not only adventurous but also leisure destinations.

Exploring Tourism Destination: A Potential of Mountain Tourism in Sudurpaschim Province

Exploring competitiveness of tourism destinations is very important in order to understand problems and potentials of regional tourism development and formulation of effective tourism strategies. Most of the tourists and tourism activities in Nepal are concentrated and clustered in central and north-eastern part of the country. In this context, the current paper assesses the existing status of tourism resources at provincial level and focuses on potentials and challenges in the far-western province. Three major components of tourism competitiveness as identified by Ritchie and Crouch (2003) namely, primary resources, secondary resources and tourist demand were analyzed based on 6 selected indicators and 25 variables identified by Goffi (2013). A total of 3224 sites in seven provinces were identified under core tourism resources. Core tourism is rated highest in competitiveness, while tourism policy and planning resulted a lowest rating. Bagmati has the highest score whereas Karnali has the lowest in overall competitiveness. Greater level of dispersion is found in adventure and leisure tourism resources. The study found that, though strategies like diversification and improvement of tourism products and the new area are acknowledged, specified 200 destinations under Visit Nepal 2020 don’t adhere to such standards. Visit Nepal 2020 identified the least number of touristic destination in Sudurpaschim. Though tourism infrastructure and services are found to be fair in the Sudurpaschim province, while destination promotion through digital platforms is limited. Increasing repetitive visits and seasonality are major areas of concern with the lowest rating value. It is concluded that the development and promotion of adventurous and leisure activities in Sudurpaschim have potential to diversify inbuilt seasonality of other provinces and increased length of stay. Essentially, local inhabitants should be encouraged in tourism sector, who are the immediate and most important stakeholders to proliferate the competitiveness of tourism destinations.

Unmet needs of tourists with disability: The role of public intervention

Since leisure tourism is both a social need as well as a human right, its accessibility is essential for full social integration, especially for people with disabilities who often struggle against exclusion. Accessibility, in the sense considered here, refers to the design of products, amenities, services in a tourism destination that meet the access needs of individuals with disabilities so as to make tourism not risky and usable by them. These individuals, however, are often not adequately served by tourism suppliers, with their unmet needs constituting a crucial issue that deserve special attention by policy makers. As suggested by UNWTO, accessibility should be a central part of any responsible and sustainable tourist policy. The aim of the study is evaluate (both conceptually and empirically) the role of public intervention in enhancing accessibility in the tourism context.

Business tourism in an African city: Evidence from Harare, Zimbabwe

Research on business tourism is attracting greater interest from tourism scholars in the Global North. Scholarship on business tourism in the Global South, however, remains underdeveloped despite its significance for many leading urban tourism destinations. Arguably, the need for the growth of research on business tourism is particularly acute in major cities of sub-Saharan Africa where the sector is frequently of more significance than leisure tourism. This article contributes to addressing the knowledge gap on business tourism in urban Africa with its focus on MICE tourism in Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital city. Use is made of a set of qualitative interviews which were conducted with stakeholder representatives for all hotels in Harare that have facilities to accommodate business events. Under scrutiny are the competitiveness of the city’s business tourism economy, the nature of business events in the city, and local pro-poor impacts.

The Coupling and Coordination Relationship between Leisure Tourism and Ecological Environment: The Case of Ili Region in Xinjiang Province

There is no doubt that a coupling relationship between leisure tourism and the ecological environment exists, but how to realize their coordinated development on that basis is much less clear. In this paper, taking Xinjiang’s Ili region as the research object, we first established a leisure tourism and ecological environment evaluation index system using the mean-variance method to assign its weighting and then built a coupling coordination model. In this way, the coupling and coordination relationship between leisure tourism and the ecological environment of the Ili region over a recent 20-year period (2001–2020) was analyzed in depth. Our results show that the economic benefit of leisure tourism and the efficiency of ecological environment protection contribute most, respectively, to the leisure tourism and ecological environment subsystems. During the study period, the coupling and coordination of leisure tourism and ecological environment system in the Ili area could be divided into five types, namely, “serious disorder-system balanced development”, “moderate disorder-leisure tourism lags”, “near disorder-leisure tourism lags”, “barely coordination-leisure tourism lags’, and “primary coordination-system balanced development”. The comprehensive development level of leisure tourism has exceeded that of the ecological environment, and prominent ecological and environmental problems have gradually arisen. Therefore, when vigorously developing leisure tourism, we should pay more attention to the ecological environment’s problems so as to realize the sustainable, coordinated development of the two.

Enhancing Tourism Potential of Ramtek Town, Maharashtra

Abstract: Tourism is acknowledged to be important for development due to its various factots encompassing economic, social, political, environmental, cultural and psychological characteristics . It is also recognized as one of the world’s largest industries, contributing 10% to the global GDP, with enormous potential for further growth. In many countries, especially in the developing countries, tourism has become a major source of foreign exchange earnings emphasizing the need for concentrated and sustained efforts towards its development. . Tourism industry in Maharashtra has a tremendous potential for growth, given the availability of basic infrastructure and the variety of tourist themes offered by various destinations in Maharashtra. Maharashtra has a rich historical and cultural heritage, which has been under-explored by the tourism industry and the government agencies. we are trying to focus one such Pilgrimage Tourist Place “Ramtek” in Maharashtra. Primarily it is a pilgrimage centre also known as kashi of vidarbha for the existence of Ambala lake which is considered as ganga.Ramtek town observes the yatra three times a year during period of Dashahara, Kartik Poornima and shriramnavmi which attracts the people from all-around the region to enjoy the same. The number of pilgrims coming to visit yatra was around one lakh at some time,nowadays reduce in thousands. Ramtek pilgrimage is seen under different religions like Jainism, Hindus and Muslims. The water bodies in the form of lakes, baolis(stepped wells) are the part of rituals. Some of these are also termed as ‘Ganga’, holy water hence deity is placed inside it. Agasthi aashram at ramgiri has got its historical and religious importance in Ramtek.This dissertation is slimly based on to enhance the tourism potential of the ramtek and due to this it could be help in growth of town and also could have job opportunities for the people living in the ramtek town and also we will enhance the existing tourism spots with coordination of religious and leisure tourism

Venetian travel narratives in Erica Jong’s work

ABSTRACT This article focuses on Erica Jong’s and her fictional characters’ travel experiences in Venice, which is portrayed as a carefree and sensual destination. Jong demonstrates how female solo travelling can help challenge unequal gender roles, explore female sexuality regardless of one’s age, and rewrite the narratives of the Grand Tour. However, in her later works, the depiction of Venice transitions from a glorification of its charm to portraying it as a seductive place of decadence. The dichotomy between beauty and decay becomes a reminder of the passage of time and the inevitability of constant changes. While Jong and her heroines defy the centuries-long and idealised cultural heritage of Venice by moving beyond its common association with male desire, they also reveal that ephemeral love affairs can lead to emotional disillusionment. They also become potential targets of the leisure tourism industry and romanticised discourses that continue to influence contemporary travel expectations.

Air Connectivity and Proximity of Large Airports as an Added Value for Museums

Museum studies is an academic and practical field of research that provides new challenges and opportunities to researchers thanks to the extraordinary growth of museums worldwide in the last 20 years (McCarthy and Brown 2022). There is, however, a need for more research on museum economics, including tourism (Silberberg and Lord 2015). The tourism industry has become the cornerstone of the economy for most of the world's tourist destinations thanks to the aviation industry, especially in the capital cities of developed countries where large airports are localized, as well as providing a high level of connectivity in the rest of the country. Tourism is highly dependent on the aviation sector (Florido-Benítez 2022a; 2022b). The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) indicates that air travel is the most popular choice of travel for leisure tourism (UNWTO 2020; 2021), and inside the tourism industry, museums represent a growing attraction for international tourists (Nowacki and Kruczek 2021). They help drive the tourism and aviation sectors, and play a cultural and economic role in their communities (Florido-Benítez 2023; Maxim 2017). City museums around the world empower their visitors to consider their roles as active city comakers (Grincheva 2022). “Superstar museums,” which are a “must see” for tourists and have achieved cult status (Frey 1998), depend on digital and physical positioning in the media (Plaza et al. 2022).

THE EMERGENCE OF LEISURE TRAVEL AS PRIMARY PREVENTIVE TOOLS IN EMPLOYEE HEALTH BEHAVIOR

In our current modern world, it can be said that it is very difficult to live a balanced and healthy life, and to always perform well in the world of work, so it is very important to pay attention to our leisure time and our primary prevention activities, which can help preserve our health and improve our fitness. The purpose of the research is to examine the appearance of leisure tourist trips among employees, and how tourist trips appear among the primary prevention tools. Our research found answers to the main questions of what activities employees try to regain their ability to work, and whether trips are popular as primary prevention activities. The recreational activities of the employees are primarily filled by various obligations, but at the same time, the use of primary prevention activities is pushed into the background during everyday life. During the research, we established that medical and wellness holidays are very popular among the respondents, as 22.5% of the sample (133 people) take part in medical tourism holidays and 50.3% of the respondents (297 people) take part in health care on a focused wellness holiday. The quiet, calm environment and the closeness to nature, which helps the employees to regenerate, appeared prominently in the motivation for the choice of destination. Among primary prevention tools, leisure activities spent with family, relationships, and friends, healthy eating, and walking and nature walks are the ones that appear dominantly in the everyday life of employees. In order to reduce the problem of burnout, pressure to perform, and stress among employees and to enable them to perform well in their tasks, it is very important to assess their needs and provide them with programs that contribute to improving their health and regaining their ability to work, such as appropriate recreation programs and various trips.

Unveiling the Value of Nature: A Comprehensive Analysis of the Ecosystem Services and Ecological Compensation in Wuhan City’s Urban Lake Wetlands

Urban lake wetlands play an essential role in providing ecological services, promoting urban sustainability, and enhancing the quality of urban life. This study quantitatively assesses the ecosystem services value (ESV) of the Zhangdu, East, and Ziyang urban lake wetlands in Wuhan, China, based on primary survey data and methodologies, including the market price, shadow engineering, and travel cost methods. The ESV is categorized into direct use value (DUV), indirect use value (IUV), and non-use value (NUV). Our findings reveal that the non-use value proportion is significant, amounting to 1.569 × 108 CNY × yr−1 for Zhangdu Lake, 1.527 × 108 CNY × yr−1 for East Lake, and 1.060 × 108 CNY × yr−1 for Ziyang Lake. This indicates a high willingness to pay among respondents, reflecting a recognition of the value of wetland services. In addition to the non-use value, this study underscores the considerable material production, water conservation, and leisure tourism value that these urban lake wetlands provide. The assessment of ESV delivers a scientific basis for the management and protection of urban lake wetlands. It also highlights the challenges faced, such as pollution and fragmented management approaches due to unclear property rights and insufficient funding. This study concludes by emphasizing the need for future research to explore mechanisms that promote social participation in wetland management, with the aim of enhancing the overall ecological health of urban lake wetlands.