Leisure Travel Research Articles

Effects of haptic cues on consumers' online hotel booking decisions: The mediating role of mental imagery

This study proposes that haptic cues (in online reviews, companies' descriptive information provided) significantly influence consumers' willingness to book hotel rooms online. Four studies examining the effect of haptic cues and using both primary and secondary data produced consistent results. We identified mental imagery as the underlying mechanism. In addition, the effect of haptic cues is moderated by the match between type of traveler and type of mental simulation. Haptic cues with outcome (process) simulation are more effective when matched with business (leisure) travelers who are performance (process) oriented. Implications for practice are discussed.

Flights Dominate Travel Emissions of Young Urbanites

Transport is a key sector in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. A consensus prevails on a causal relationship between distance to the city center and emissions from private transport, which has led to an emphasis on density in urban planning. However, several studies have reported a reverse association between the level of urbanity and emissions from long-distance leisure travel. Studies have also suggested that pro-environmental attitudes and climate change concerns are unrelated or positively related to emissions from long-distance travel. The goals of this case study were to find out the structure, levels, distribution, and predictors of GHG emissions from the local, domestic, and international travel of young adults of the Reykjavik Capital Region. A life cycle assessment (LCA) approach was utilized to calculate emissions, and the materials were collected with a map-based online survey. International leisure travel dominated the overall GHG emissions from personal travel regardless of residential location, modality style, or income level. A highly unequal distribution of emissions was found. A higher climate change awareness was found to predict higher GHG emissions from trips abroad. Emissions from leisure travel abroad were the highest in the city center, which was related to cosmopolitan attitudes among downtown dwellers.

Does conducting activities while traveling reduce the value of time? Evidence from a within-subjects choice experiment

Many studies about conducting activities while traveling start from the hypothesis that conducting onboard activities reduces the value of time (VoT). However, surprisingly limited empirical evidence is provided for this hypothesis. The few studies that aim at providing this evidence face methodological problems in the sense that effects attributed to conducting onboard activities are confounded with differences between groups. This paper further develops and applies a solution for this problem proposed by Wardman and Lyons (2016). In essence, this method includes constructing a within-person choice experiment, which involves that the same respondents make choices in a context that enables conducting activities, as well as in a context that does not enable conducting activities. This method is applied in a study that collected data from 820 train travelers in the Netherlands. The results show that as expected, the VoT in the activity context is significantly lower than the VoT in the non-activity context, which thus supports the hypothesis. Reduction in VoT due to conducting onboard activities is around 30% for commuters, while leisure travelers who prefer to read lose almost half their VoT value. In addition, this paper discusses how the estimated VoT reduction values can be interpreted as the Value of Activity (VoA), which can be used for appraising investments aimed at reducing the disutility of travel other than by means of reducing travel time, such as improving Internet connections.

Leisure Mobility of Chinese Millennials

ABSTRACT This study focuses on Chinese millennials as a unique travel group and investigates how the usage of mobile technology impacts their leisure travel experience and continuous engagement with mobile technology. The study results demonstrate that, among the three major mobile technology functions, the utilitarian and social functions have significant positive impacts on Chinese millennials’ leisure travel experience, whereas the hedonic function does not extend any significant influences. In addition, leisure travel experience partially mediates the relationship between the utilitarian function of mobile technology and Chinese millennials’ future mobile technology engagement. The findings provide insights for tourism practitioners regarding how to efficiently develop mobile applications through emphasizing utilitarian and social functions to better meet Chinese millennials’ needs. The function-improved mobile apps can enhance their leisure travel experience and further contribute to the continuous mobile technology engagement. A virtuous circle will be generated between the mobile technology engagement and leisure travel experience.

Managing Imponderables: The Rise of U.S. Tourism and the Transformation of German Diplomacy, 1890-1933

Today, governments readily recognize international tourism as a salient economic and political factor. They routinely restrict or facilitate travel in accordance with the state of foreign relations and few would dispute that tourist impressions, those left by citizens abroad as well as those gained by foreign visitors, affect their international reputation. The U.S. State Department even reminds all its passport holders of their duty as “citizen diplomats” when traveling abroad.1 As one study has noted, cross-border tourism is now “inseparable from the field of international relations.”2 However, just when and why leisure travel became a field of foreign policy concern is considerably less clear. To be sure, travel and diplomacy have by their very nature been connected for long.3 Yet, diplomatic historians have only relatively recently begun to explore modern tourism as a serious factor in foreign affairs. Christopher Endy was among the first to probe the foreign policy implications of tourism, illustrating how “private travel shaped the global outlook of hundreds of thousands [of U.S. travelers]” in the late nineteenth century. 4 Scholars have since underlined just how strongly international travel informed national images and imaginations, emphasizing, for instance, its central role in strengthening or contesting imperial mindsets.5 As far as the history of state tourism policies is concerned, much attention has focused on how interwar autocracies such as the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Franco’s Spain began to employ cross-border tourism to gain international sympathy and foreign currency.6 For example, Nazi Germany systematically drew on tourism to project an image of normality at home and abroad, effectively sugarcoating the brutal nature of its rule.7 During the Cold War, too, both sides treated tourism as a political tool and used it to foster the economic and ideological integration of their respective zones of influence.8 Long dismissed as a trivial and inconsequential form of travel, tourism is now recognized to have been a potent foreign policy factor for much of the twentieth century.

Exploring service innovation in a network of travel agencies: the Robintur case

探索旅游社网络中的服务创新：Robintur案例分析摘要研究目的本论文旨在探究顾客参与技术（CETs）如何在旅游社网络中影响服务创新, 并分析其对于销售渠道、顾客关系、以及零售营销政策的影响。研究设计/方法/途径本论文采用定性分析方法, 单一案例样本源, 并合多种采样渠道（文本、半结构化访问、和店内观察）来丰富样本数据。本论文研究了Robintur集团, 一家意大利大型旅行社网路, 主要经营休闲旅游、商务旅行、以及组织型旅游产品模块。研究结果本论文结果强调了服务创新的三大核心：协同渠道整合、多样化顾客关系、和多样化零售营销, 其三大核心对旅行社管理有着紧密联系, 符合全渠道战略的主体思想。研究原创性/价值本案例分析展示了一个探索新科技和复兴旅行社范围和功能的理论模型, 对旅行社服务创新有着重大理论贡献。样本数据强调了采取全渠道战略以增强顾客体验。同时, 本论文也是首个实际检测了大型零售集团在面对旅行市场多样化和全渠道战略的挑战。研究理论限制本论文仅取样了意大利的单一案例。未来研究应该拓宽模型到其他旅行产业以及国际市场, 其对大型零售厂商的多样化进程更加深入, 同时, 未来研究应该讲全渠道战略与其他信息与通信技术结合来研究, 对旅行社管理有深入的启示。关键词关键词 旅行社 服务创新 全渠道 CET ICT 意大利论文类型研究型论文

O Comportamento do Turista LGBT com Relação ao Consumo em Viagens de Lazer

O Comportamento do Turista LGBT com Relação ao Consumo em Viagens de Lazer

Perceptions of Travel Importance, Benefits, and Constraints in Predicting Travel Behavior: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Leisure Travel

This research conducts a cross-cultural examination of leisure traveler's perceptions of travel importance, benefits, and constraints as predictors of travel behavior. Results from the both the US (n = 559) and Taiwanese (n = 500) samples indicate, as expected, that leisure travelers who perceive travel as more beneficial and important travel more frequently. Additionally, it was found that when people perceive a higher level of travel constraints, they naturally tend to consider leisure travel as less beneficial and important, which serves to reduce leisure travel. Whereas these relationships were both significant across both samples, the Taiwanese sample was shown to have a more favorable view of leisure travel and, therefore, tended to travel more frequently. These findings would appear to have meaningful theoretical and managerial implications for the tourism and lodging industries.

Emirati Millennials: A Catalyst for Innovation in the Tourism Industry

It is evident that generational shifts in tourist behaviour facilitate the anticipation and accommodation of future trends in the industry. Although a unique and influential tourist segment, the millennial generation of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has not been adequately researched. This paper aims to explore the travel patterns of Emirati millennials; particularly their preferences, their online travel behaviour and the impact of social media on their choices. After reviewing the academic and trade literature on millennial travelers and some cases of existing innovative practices of tourism businesses targeting millennials, the paper will present the results of a survey conducted to investigate the travel patterns of young Emirati travelers, contributing to the literature on this emerging segment which is almost nonexistent. The research offers useful insights into what Emiratis value the most, their preference for leisure travel to new destinations and the influence of travel apps and social media on their travel planning. The research led to the development of suggestions for businesses aiming to attract millennials.

Leisure travel behavior of generation Y & Z at the destination and post-purchase

Researching travel trends of new generations is the first step for tourism providers towards modifying their offers in order to match target markets’ needs. The above represents this paper’s primary purpose. The motivation and behavior of the new generations, also known as Millennials or Generation Y and Post-Millennials or Generation Z, influence the contemporary tourism characteristics. They are both more than familiar with recent technology trends and usage. There are two main goals of this paper. The first is to determine the behavior of Generation Y and Z members during their stay in the tourist destination and their preferences in terms of company, accommodation and transport options. The second goal of this paper focuses on exploring the behavior of the Y and Z generation members related the dissemination of information about their stay in a tourist destination. Questions covered issues regarding review writing about a tourist destination or accommodation, the timing of writing - during or after returning from a tourist destination, the announcement of their travel intentions on social networks etc. A significant number of respondents post on social media and write online reviews regarding their travel experiences. The originality of the papers steams from the insufficient studies of the topic. The research methodology applied an online survey as the main research instrument. The main limitations are related to the minor geographical area researched.
 Keywords: online tourism behavior, generation Y, generation Z, buying behavior in tourism, visit phase, post purchase behavior in tourism.

Mode choice in access and egress stages of high-speed railway travelers in China

High-speed railway (HSR) has become a sustainable transport mode for inter-city travel, especially in China. As public transport (PT), the use of HSR involves access and egress to and from HSR stations. However, the literature focusing on the intra-city mode choice of HSR travelers is limited, especially regarding their differential socio-demographic and trip characteristics. This paper aims to fill that gap with an analysis of access/egress mode choice for business and leisure journeys in the Yangzi River Delta region. Using the HSR survey from Fudan University, we found that in China older and wealthier travelers have a strong preference for car use. For leisure travel, the explanatory power of the socio-demographic variables is much more influential in the egress than the access stage. With increasing access time, business travelers may be enticed to shift to a faster form of PT (e.g., subway rather than bus) in the access stage. With increasing line-haul time, only business travelers have a stronger preference for car use as their intra-city mode choice for business activities. A higher number of subway lines and diversity of land use around HSR stations is associated with less car use for business travelers in the egress stage.

Urban form, travel behavior, and travel satisfaction

The relationship between the built environment and travel satisfaction has not been adequately explored in previous research. This study examines how urban form affects travel satisfaction using survey and interview data from Oslo metropolitan area, which is a good case for such a study since compact and sprawled urban forms are found to a large extent in the same city region. Results suggest that commute satisfaction as well as leisure travel satisfaction are significantly higher for residents of compact urban neighborhoods than those of sprawled suburbs. The article further focuses on commute satisfaction and finds that this difference is mainly due to differences in (a) trip duration and (b) travel modal split between the two urban form types. (a) Shorter distances to the city center and higher neighborhood densities are associated with significantly lower trip duration to work or education. This lower trip duration experienced by compact-city residents significantly contributes to their higher travel satisfaction. (b) Significant differences in the impact of travel mode on travel satisfaction, controlling for trip duration, are found. From most to least pleasant, travel modes are evaluated as follows: (1) walk, (2) bike and train, (3) bus, tram and metro, and (4) car. These differences contribute to the higher travel satisfaction found in compact neighborhoods, since residents of compact neighborhoods use active travel modes (walking and cycling) to a high extent and the car to a low extent, while suburban residents walk and cycle significantly less and use the car significantly more. Overall, the findings of this study suggest that compact-city policies and car restrictions that are currently applied or planned to be applied in several cities worldwide can have a positive impact on travel satisfaction as they lead to shorter trip durations and more active travel compared with urban sprawl policies.

Attracting and managing talent, how are the top three hotel companies in India doing it?

Purpose Global business travel spending reached a record breaking $1.2tn in 2015 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2016) and the average Indian traveling is now at a phenomenal high for both business and leisure travel. In this context, the paper aims to investigate how the top hotels in India are addressing the issue of human resource shortages and training and how they are preparing for the future when the market, the customer profile and employee expectations are undergoing a major change. In essence, brand loyalty could be minimal and competition intense. Design/methodology/approach This paper adopts a case study approach and reviews how participating hotels are addressing their talent attraction and retention issues and differentiating their people management processes. Findings The processes used by top hotel companies provide an overview as to how they manage people and how they will need to innovate to assess progress of the measures and initiatives they are taking. They will also have to be more global in their approach. Originality/value The findings will be of interest to managers who are responsible for hiring and managing employees. The study also has implications for policymakers and higher education institutions in relation to managing skill shortages that exist in the hotel industry.

A time series analysis of the pricing behaviour of directly competitive 'low cost' airlines

This article discusses the competitive pricing behavior of airlines. The author collects data by route for cases where more than one airline is in direct competition. Data on fares is obtained from the Internet for two airlines with competing services to Alicante, Prague, and Malaga, departing from Nottingham East Midlands Airport in the United Kingdom, for the six working weeks up to and including the actual departure date. These data represent leisure traffic. The author also selected 2 domestic business destinations to illustrate price competition on business demand, where departure times were within a maximum of 20 minutes of each other; the author also compared competing services from London Gatwick (LGW) airport. The author concludes that one of the airlines studied is operating more characteristically as a low-cost carrier than the other. The influence of past fares is higher than the influence of the competitor's fares in one leisure travel case. The other leisure case suggests that the correlation between the series is more important than correlation within the series. The author sums up that it seems likely that each airline is preoccupied by the process of yield management and it is only through this that a competitor's fare offerings indirectly influence their behavior.

Effect of high-speed rail competition on airlines’ intertemporal price strategies

In China, serious development of high-speed rail (HSR) is expected to affect airlines' intertemporal price strategies, which are important means for airlines to optimize revenue. We present the impact using a panel dataset of 22 city pairs. We found that HSR competition makes the airlines' intertemporal price curve steeper, meaning that the price strategy for leisure and business travelers has changed. Additionally, the increase in leisure demand increases airlines' average price (especially along HSR competition routes), while the airlines' average price is relatively low on the routes with high business demand. Notably, with HSR competition, a different pricing strategy is presented, wherein airlines’ average price is higher on the routes with higher business demand.

Green Practices in Hospitality: A Contingency Approach

This study focuses on discovering sustainable practices and possible innovative practices according to factors of Contingency Theory. In order to achieve this, a qualitative approach has been conducted. The study analyses 24 independent hotels. Semi-structured interviews were used in this study and conducted in person with the top managers at each hotel. The results show that, in accordance with Contingency Theory, the organizational behaviour is determined by the environment in which the hotel operates, the size of the establishment, where large- and medium-sized hotels are more committed to sustainable development, the environmental technology adopted and implemented by the hotel, and the main type of clientele, with hotels aimed at business travellers who show greater attention to the environment than those aimed at leisure travellers, mainly associated with socio-cultural values. The factors that were not completely decisive in the results analysed were the age of the hotel and the sex of the hotel owner. Considering the achieved results, this study may also contribute to identifying the most sustainable hotels and can help hotel businesses understand and reap the benefits of following a sustainable path.

Understanding U.S. travellers’ motives to choose Airbnb: a comparison of business and leisure travellers

Airbnb has become popular. Although empirical research on the motives to use Airbnb has been conducted, the findings have been limited and mixed. Further, identifying motives for two major segments...

Digital heritage tourism: innovations in museums

ABSTRACTHeritage tourism is one of the oldest forms of travel for leisure, and more recently an important resource for the tourism industry. Museums benefit from ticket sales but also from recognition. Digital technology has served as an important tool to innovate in all areas of the museum institution, repositioning firms within the heritage tourism market, leading to emerging forms of consumption. Museums may not be fully ready to accept the visit of a digital heritage tourist, yet acknowledging the value of the new consumer can free museums from the limits of their physical walls to explore new horizons in the digital information market space. We define the digital heritage tourist and argue that the large banks of objects and knowledge about our past held in museums are an extraordinary source of discovery, leisure and life-long learning for the emerging digital heritage tourist.

SATISFACTION OF DOMESTIC LEISURE TRAVEL BASED ON AGE RANGE: CASE OF JAPAN

Tourism has a large effect on lifestyle, society and the economy. With policy goals aiming to develop Japan into a tourism nation, it has become important for Japan to understand tourism trends and satisfaction. This paper focuses on tourists' satisfaction based on age range for Japan domestic leisure travel with overnight stays by Japan residents. It examines the characteristics concerning the satisfaction of the travellers by each age range. The results find that the younger age ranges trend to be relatively ‘satisfied' with their travels and the older age ranges were relatively dissatisfied, with the 50s and 60s age ranges showing a strong tendency of being ‘very dissatisfied'. The age range closest to the average was the 40s.Keywords: Japan domestic leisure travel, age range, travel satisfactionJEL Classifications: Z30, Z33DOI: https://doi.org/10.32479/irmm.7992

주중 여가통행 시간 및 거리의 영향요인에 관한 연구

주중 여가통행 시간 및 거리의 영향요인에 관한 연구