Quality Of Tourist Experience Research Articles

Family Support, Managerial Self-Efficacy, and Performance of Micro-Firms in Tourism Destinations During the COVID-19 Pandemic

ABSTRACT The high performance of micro-firms in tourism destinations is strongly associated with the quality of tourist experience and regional tourism development. Thus, improving micro-firms’ performance is an important research issue for promoting the competitiveness of tourism destinations. Existing business and management literature in hospitality and tourism focuses on managers’ personal characteristics, strategic management perspectives, and business environment to understand the performance determinants of micro-firms. Taking a sociological perspective and considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, this study highlights the role of family support on micro-firms’ performance. It investigates not only the direct influence of family support on performance but also the mediation effect of managerial self-efficacy in the relationship. Based on survey data from 205 micro-firms in Jeongseon-gun County in South Korea, this study performed a partial least squares structural equation modeling to analyze the hypotheses. This study showed that both instrumental and emotional family support has a positive effect on perceived performance. Furthermore, to elucidate the crucial path by which family support leads to performance, this study also shows that managerial self-efficacy mediates the relationships between different family supports and business performance.

The Challenge of Realizing Sustainable River Ecotourism to Improve Human Welfare and Protect Biodiversity in Indonesia

Abstract Ecotourism is ecologically sustainable tourism that focuses on managing nature to encourage understanding, appreciation, and conservation of the environment and culture. This paper analyzes the benefits of river ecosystems in Indonesia to improve human welfare and protect biodiversity through river ecotourism management towards sustainable living. Forms of river ecotourism that have been developed in Indonesia are white water rafting, observation of various flora and fauna, potential development in residential areas as an agenda for tracing and people's gardens, and making river flows an educational tourism idea. Realizing sustainable living river ecotourism can be done by diversifying tourism products. The success of river ecotourism is determined by three components, namely tourism performance, quality of tourism experience, and sustainable tourism. Efforts that can be made for sustainable living ecotourism such as holding innovative online courses for ecotourism managers and measuring the ecological footprint of ecotourism products.

Influence of Cities-Based Entertainment on Tourist Satisfaction: Mediating Roles of Destination Image and Experience Quality

In response to the Saudi Vision 2030, the Kingdom has developed mega entertainment events in different cities, referred to as cities-based entertainment, to diversify the long prevalent oil-dependent economy and change the traditional image of the Kingdom as a sole religious tourism destination. This research develops and tests a conceptual model on the relationship between the quality cities-based entertainment recently provided at the kingdom, and destination image, quality of tourist experience, and tourist satisfaction. More specifically, the research examines the direct influence of quality cities-based entertainment on tourist satisfaction and the indirect influence through destination image and quality of tourist experience. A structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test structural relationships between the research variables. The results showed a positive and significant influence of event (cities-based entertainment) quality on destination image and on tourist experience quality. However, the results revealed that event—i.e., cities-based entertainment—quality failed to have a direct influence on tourist satisfaction. Hence, destination image and tourist experience quality were found to fully mediate the influence of event quality on tourist satisfaction. Theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed and elaborated.

A Study on How the Five Senses Are Affected When Tourists Experience Towns with Forest Characteristics: An Empirical Analysis Based on the Data of Fujian, Guangdong and Sichuan in China

Senses are the primary channel by which travelers enjoy tourism, and the sensory experience of tourists is very important to the quality of their tourism experience. In this study, 385 questionnaires were distributed to tourists visiting the first batch of characteristic towns classified by the China National Forestry and Grassland Administration as national towns with forest characteristics. SPSS software was used for regression analysis to test the differences in the impact of sensory experience on the experience quality and future loyalty of forest town tourists. The results show that: (1) vision makes the highest contribution to the quality of tourist experience; (2) olfactory experience makes the lowest contribution to the quality of tourist experience and has no significant impact on it; (3) auditory experience has a significant impact on the quality of tourism experience but has no significant impact on the loyalty index. The study further confirms that, when a single sensory experience of tourists is insufficient, satisfaction can be achieved through the other senses. It is of great significance for forest town managers to design a sensory landscape according to the combined components of a destination’s characteristics and the tourists’ physical identities.

Antecedents of tourist loyalty to tourist destinations: a mediated-moderation study

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of destination image on satisfaction level and tourist loyalty toward the various tourist destinations in Jammu and Kashmir. The study, also, attempted to investigate the mediating role of satisfaction and moderating role of gender, past experience and tourist origin in the proposed model.Design/methodology/approachThe study was carried out in the state of Jammu and Kashmir spread over three divisions, i.e., Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. The study employs questionnaire survey method for data collection. Purposive sampling was adopted for data collection and data analysis was carried out through exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling techniques.FindingsThe study has found that cognitive image, affective image and unique image are the significant dimensions of destination image, which in turn has a positive effect on satisfaction level and tourist loyalty. It was also found that destination image has both direct and indirect effect on tourist loyalty.Research limitations/implicationsThe state of Jammu and Kashmir has been badly affected by ongoing political instability, which has caused huge losses to the tourism industry. The results of the study will be helpful to policymakers in designing various strategies and programs for maximizing tourist inflow and growth of tourism industry in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.Practical implicationsFurther, finding of the study will assist destination managers in understanding consumer behavior for promoting destination shopping activities. This will enhance tourist expenditure at destinations and thus provides direct benefits to the local economy.Originality/valueVery little research has been conducted on moderating role of gender, past experience and tourist origin in the destination image and its association with satisfaction and tourist loyalty in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Managing destination image and quality of tourist experience are critical to induce favorable expectations of destination in the tourist’s mind.

Modeling Resident Attitudes toward the Chinese Inbound Tourist Market

ABSTRACTChina has become the largest inbound market for Taiwan’s tourism industry. Even though Taiwan and China have similar cultures, a large inflow of tourists from a single inbound tourism market may present significant challenges. This study aims to examine Taiwanese attitudes toward the Chinese inbound tourism market, the perceptions of tourism impacts generated by this group and the relationship between residents’ impact perceptions and attitudes toward further development of this market. Findings suggest that tourism impacts are significant determinants of overall impact, and overall quality of tourism experience. Findings further suggest that both direct and indirect relationships exist between residents’ impact perceptions and their attitudes toward the Chinese tourism market while both the overall impact perceptions and overall quality of tourism experience perceptions mediate the relationship between tourism impacts and residents’ attitudes toward the Chinese tourism market. Finally, the study provides practical management strategies to locals towards a specific group of tourists.

A GEOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS OF OPTIMAL SIGNAGE LOCATION SELECTION IN SCENIC AREA

As an important part of the scenic area infrastructure services, signage guiding system plays an indispensable role in guiding the way and improving the quality of tourism experience. This paper proposes an optimal method in signage location selection and direction content design in a scenic area based on geographic analysis. The object of the research is to provide a best solution to arrange limited guiding boards in a tourism area to show ways arriving at any scenic spot from any entrance. There are four steps to achieve the research object. First, the spatial distribution of the junction of the scenic road, the passageway and the scenic spots is analyzed. Then, the count of scenic roads intersection on the shortest path between all entrances and all scenic spots is calculated. Next, combing with the grade of the scenic road and scenic spots, the importance of each road intersection is estimated quantitatively. Finally, according to the importance of all road intersections, the most suitable layout locations of signage guiding boards can be provided. In addition, the method is applied in the Ming Tomb scenic area in China and the result is compared with the existing signage guiding space layout.

Stakeholders’ Expectations from Tour Guides

As tourism becomes more important across the world, so does destination competitiveness with destination managers executing every detail of the services offered, leaving none to chance. In this case, one of the most important roles of a tour guide is to take, lead, and accompany a tourist while visiting an unknown territory. Hence, to a large extent, the quality of tourist experience is dependent upon how the tour guides conduct themselves. In other words, these tour guides, although primarily are responsible to tourists, must also address other aspects so as to create a happy experience for the tourists. This largely also depends on who is responsible for supplying tour guides and how other stakeholders agree to work with these tour guides in catering to the needs of the tourists. Hence, the important question asked here is how the different stakeholders view the role of the tour guide and their expectations. The purpose of this study was to identify the expectations of various stakeholders regarding the role of tour guides. There appears to be a significant difference in the expectations of the various stakeholders. A comparison was drawn between the expectations of eight stakeholders (domestic tourists, inbound tourists, travel agents/tour operators, tourism authorities, managers of monuments/attractions, hoteliers/restaurateurs, merchandisers, and the tour guides themselves). Based on primary data collection, this paper attempts to discuss if there is a difference in the expectations of different stakeholders as far as the role of a tour guide is concerned.

AUMENTO DO TEMPO DE PERMANÊNCIA DOS TURISTAS NO BRASIL: NOVOS TURISTAS OU NOVOS COMPORTAMENTOS?

Em todo o mundo a duração média das viagens tem diminuído. No entanto, curiosamente, essa tendência não tem se revelado no turismo receptivo internacional do Brasil. Duas hipóteses podem explicar a incomum realidade brasileira: mudanças no comportamento dos turistas que visitam o país, e alterações na composição do fluxo turístico receptivo internacional brasileiro. Uma eventual confirmação da primeira hipótese mostraria que a evolução do comportamento dos turistas nos últimos anos foi efetivamente diferente no Brasil e nos demais países, evidenciando a ocorrência de melhorias na qualidade da experiência turística ofertada pelo Brasil. Este estudo objetiva testar essa hipótese através do uso de modelos de duração baseados em mais de 211 mil entrevistas. A modelagem do comportamento individual dos turistas torna possível controlar o efeito de variáveis intervenientes, permitindo uma avaliação detalhada do efeito temporal sobre a duração esperada das estadas dos turistas. Treze modelos de duração são testados. O modelo com melhor ajuste aos dados tem taxa de risco com distribuição Weibull e heterogeneidade individual com distribuição Gama. Os resultados apontam que a tendência crescente da permanência média é parcialmente explicada por uma mudança no comportamento dos turistas.

Management Development Skills in the Hospitality and Tourism Sector: Needs and Issues from a Regional Perspective

Skills development, training and continuing professional education are perceived as critical factors leading to competitiveness of destinations and improvements to quality of tourist experiences. However, they are a perennial issue facing the hospitality and tourism sectors, which are perceived as low-skilled, and where management development is driven by internal promotion. However, most research in this area has focused on skills generally, whereas this study focuses on gaps in, and the need for, management skills specifically. Management skills and training development needs in the sector are analysed in a regional context to highlight barriers and drivers of training uptake locally. The research informs policy on provision of training and concludes for the need to increase communication and routes to training within the sector.

Motives, Rural Images, and Tourism Brokering Roles of Rural Accommodation Entrepreneurs in South Western Ontario, Canada

This study focuses on the rural images of rural accommodation operators, their motivations in terms of "lifestyle" aspirations, and their "brokering" role in the understanding of tourists' needs and experiences in rural areas. We know little about the rural image perceptions of tourism entrepreneurs, the importance that they place on a rural lifestyle, and how they influence their guests' experiences of rural life. Similarly, little is known about knowledge transfer between hosts and their guests. The study area for this research is in a rural region of small towns and villages in South Western Ontario, Canada. Through personal interviews, rural entrepreneurs showed a strong interaction with tourists, a sound knowledge of tourist motivations, and where tourists go in the region. They performed a role of validating and recommending tourist activities and thus influencing consumption patterns. Their role as tourism "brokers" is important because as well as recommending the tourism product, they can get feedback on the quality of tourist experiences in the region. This article supports the notion of lifestyle entrepreneurship as the norm in rural tourism, at least in this region, and emphasizes the importance of the rural landscape to quality of life for both hosts and guests.