Sightseeing Activities Research Articles

Agricultural tourism activities in the Mekong Delta from the perspectives of domestic tourists

The article aims to learn about agritourism activities from the perspectives of domestic tourists, thereby discussing this issue from the perspectives of the tourism studies (combining other specialized sciences) and from the practical requirements of the rural development today (tourism activities, new rural construction policies, and etc.) in Vietnam in general and in the Mekong Delta in particular. The agritourism is currently being deployed quite popularly in the Mekong Delta, using the materials from the rural and agricultural life of farmers to bring experiences to tourists. The objective of the article is to learn about the agritourism from the domestic tourists’ perspectives. The survey data set includes 650 questionnaires collected by the norm sampling method (quota sample) and processed by the descriptive statistical method with tourists at agricultural tourist destinations in 13 provinces and cities in the Mekong Delta, conducted in 2020. The research results have shown that tourists were highly satisfied with the agritourism activities of the Mekong Delta. Tourists usually took short tours (1-2 days) and most of them were from neighboring provinces/regions (provinces in the Mekong Delta and the Southeast region of Vietnam). Besides, the study results have also found that the village sightseeing activities, learning about the rural life, and enjoying the local food were the most interested and responded by tourists. In addition, in order to further improve the agritourism quality and tourists’ satisfaction, the research results highlight the points that need to be paid more attention in terms of aspects, including developing tourism programs and agritourism routes combined with visiting beautiful landscapes and cultural and historical relics of the locality, building agricultural accommodation, and establishing local tour guide clubs as well as raising farmers’ awareness and training skills to them on providing agricultural tourism products and services.

Exploration of global spatiotemporal changes of fall foliage coloration in deciduous forests and shrubs using the VIIRS land surface phenology product

Fall foliage coloration is a phenological development process that has a significant impact on ecosystem carbon and water balance, climate change, and human sightseeing activities worldwide. Studies of land surface phenology concentrating on the onset timing of senescence and dormancy are insufficient to reveal the full details of the fall foliage coloration process that is particularly important for travel and the tourism industry. Thus, the aim of this study is for the first time to explicitly explore the fall foliage development in six coloration phases (little/no coloration, low coloration, moderate coloration, near-peak coloration, peak coloration, and post-peak coloration) and the related deciduous vegetation across the globe. The onset and duration of each coloration phase were estimated using the VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) land surface phenology product. The results indicate spatial patterns and interannual variations in the onset and duration of six phases in foliage coloration. The coloration phases present regular shifts along latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere but are complex in the Southern Hemisphere. The rate of change along latitudes is faster during the later coloration phases than the early phases in the Northern Hemisphere, while the rates are similar in the Southern Hemisphere for all six coloration phases. Moreover, the interannual variations in the onset of a foliage coloration phase are smaller in forested areas than in shrub areas, and more so in dense tree/shrub cover areas than in sparse tree/shrub cover areas. In contrast, the interannual variations in the duration of a foliage coloration depend on the vegetation type. Finally, there were no significant trends in the foliage coloration phase during 2013–2019. The results from this study improve our understanding of fall foliage coloration development and provide valuable datasets to the communities of phenology study and tourism.

The Effects of Cave Exploration Activity Towards Kilim Geoforest Park, Langkawi, Malaysia

There are many natural geological heritage sites located in Kilim, as the total area of the geoforest consists of karst rock that was formed 500 million years ago. Bat Cave is among the favourite spot for tourists to appreciate and explore geological heritage sites. The Bat Cave is a-200 million years’ minerals formation site and a habitat for thousands of bats in the geoforest area. However, excessive tourism activities have affected various natural resources and wildlife habitat of Kilim Karst Geoforest Park, Langkawi. The Bat Cave is one of the geological sites that is most probably affected by tourism activities. The aim of this paper is to identify local residents and tourists’ opinion in the effects of cave exploration and tourism activities to the habitat of bats and geo-physical characters of the Bat Cave, Kilim Karst Geoforest Park, Langkawi. The methodology employed in this study is based on questionnaire survey with 93% response rate (n=299). Questionnaires were distributed to tourists (65), local residents in Kilim (145) and staff (89) who are in charged in the tourism operation of Kilim Karst Geoforest Park. Findings of this study suggest that tourism activities such as cave exploration and sight-seeing activities caused deterioration towards the physical characteristics of natural resources and habitat of bats in the Bat Cave, Kilim Karst Geoforest Park, Langkawi. This is due to tourists not adhering to a proper procedure (e.g. frequent use of torch light) while exploring the cave. Respondents agree that there is a decline in the numbers of bat population in the cave. The management agency of Kilim Karst Geoforest Park needs to take steps in controlling or reducing the number of tourist arrivals by using tourism carrying capacity approach in order to promote stability. Exceeded population could cause destructions towards the resources. Degradation of natural resources indirectly would distract the natural symbiosis of the ecosystem.

A Sightseeing Spot Recommendation System That Takes into Account the Visiting Frequency of Users

The present study aimed to design, develop, operate and evaluate a sightseeing spot recommendation system that can efficiently and usefully support tourists while considering their visiting frequencies. This system was developed by integrating social networking services (SNSs), Web-geographic information systems (GIS) and recommendation systems. The system recommends sightseeing spots to users with different visiting frequencies, adopting two recommendation methods (knowledge-based recommendation and collaborative recommendation methods). Additionally, the system was operated for six weeks in Kamakura City, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, and the total number of users was 61. Based on the results of the web questionnaire survey, the usefulness of the system when sightseeing was high, and the recommendation function of sightseeing spots, which is an original function, received mainly good ratings. From the results of the access analysis of users’ log data, the total number of sessions in this system was 329, 77% used mobile devices, and smartphones were used most frequently. Therefore, it is evident that the system was used by different types of devices just as it was designed for, and that the system was used according to the purpose of the present study, which is to support the sightseeing activities of users.

Mobilities in Network Topology and Simulation Reproducibility of Sightseeing Vehicle Detected by Low-Power Wide-Area Positioning System

Vehicle mobilities for passengers in a city’s downtown area or in the countryside are significant points to characterize their functions and outputs. We focus on commercial sightseeing vehicles in a Japanese city where many tourists enjoy sightseeing. Such mobilities and their visualizations make tourist activities smoother and richer. We design and install a low-power, wide-area positioning system on a rickshaw, which is a human-pulled, two- or three-wheeled cart, and monitor its mobility in Hikone City. All the spatial locations, which are recorded in a time sequence on a cloud server, are currently available as open data on the internet. We analyze such sequential data using graph topology, which reflects the information of corresponding geographical maps, and reproduce it in cyberspace using an agent-based model with similar probabilities to the accumulated rickshaw records from one spatial node to another. Although the numerical results of the agent traced in a simulated city are partially consistent with the rickshaw’s record, we identify some significant differences. We conclude that the rickshaw’s mobility observed at the actual sightseeing sites is partially in the random motion; some cases are strongly biased by memory routes. Such non-randomness in the rickshaw’s mobility indicates the existence of specific features in tourism sources that are identified for each sightseeing activity and affected by local sightseeing resources.

Assessing the risk of the food-energy-water nexus of urban metabolism: A case study of Kinmen Island, Taiwan

Implementing effective resource management is crucial for urban sustainability. Potential resource management strategies should be assessed under the framework of a resource nexus to avoid problem shifting. The urban metabolism of food, energy, and water is driven by lifestyle, industrial structure, and infrastructure. This study employed material flow analysis to identify resource metabolism through the phases of supply, process, demand, and final sink. The resource intensity of urban activities and the risk of the nexus of resources were quantified to illuminate management strategies. This study investigated the food-energy-water nexus (FEW nexus) for a small and multi-sector island city, Kinmen, and found that the nexus risk of water for food is the highest. Water and energy consumption have excessive loads on resource metabolism in a multi-sector city, and the main demand sectors increase the nexus risk in water for food. The results indicated that higher risk results from higher resource consumption intensity, particularly in areas of economic growth. Resource management of the FEW nexus needs the best tradeoff strategy to meet the goals of urban metabolism sustainability. The risk assessment framework can support the design of optimal resource management strategies to pursue urban sustainability. Consequently, given the limitations of water treatment technology, the impact of energy risk mitigation is poor (below 4% of energy risk in 2015) and the energy risk will continue to increase (by about 10% based on the economic activity). As a result, imported water is the best tradeoff strategy to meet the FEW nexus safety for Kinmen City as a low-resource and sightseeing activity area.

A Sightseeing Spot Recommendation System That Takes into Account the Change in Circumstances of Users

The present study aimed to design, develop, operate and evaluate a sightseeing spot recommendation system for urban sightseeing spots in order to support individual, as well as group sightseeing activities while taking into consideration the user’s needs, which can change according to the circumstances (each user’s important conditions and sightseeing unit). The system was developed by integrating Web-GIS (Geographic Information Systems), the pairing system, the evaluation system, as well as the recommendation system into a single system, and it was also connected with external SNS (Social Networking Services: Twitter and Facebook). Additionally, the system was operated for four weeks in the central part of Yokohama City in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, and the total number of users was 52. Based on the results of the web questionnaire survey, the usefulness of the system when sightseeing was high, and the recommendation function of sightseeing spots, which is an original function, has received mainly good ratings. From the results of the access analysis of users’ log data, it is evident that the system has been used by different types of devices, just as it was designed for, and that the system has been used according to the purpose of the present study, which is to support the sightseeing activities of users.

Successful Chinese German Collaborations in Historical Dresden

Successful Chinese German Collaborations in Historical Dresden

Development of cultural tourism product in Taman Mini Indonesia Indah

Indonesian cultural resources according to the World Economic Forum is ranked 38 of 140 countries. One of the tourist destinations in Indonesia that use cultural resources as tourist attraction is Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (TMII). Along with the modernization of tourist interest, TMII establish cooperation to develop new tourist attractions. However, activities of majority tourists during their visit to TMII is just walking around, take pictures, recreation, or sport. Tourists cultural tourism experience are lack, whereas TMII have vision to be the leading of cultural tourism destination. This research aimed to identify the concept of cultural tourism products that can be applied in TMII based on tourists motivation, tourism attraction in TMII, and activities in demand by tourists. This research used descriptive method with qualitative approach. Results of data analysis show that the physical or physiological motivation is the highest motivation chosen by the respondents, tourism attraction that gets the highest score is the architecture, and the activity of interest is sightseeing activities. These three variables are matched with the criteria of socio-cultural tour and two things that forming total experience. Hence, this research proposed a formula of tourism product that can be applied and promoted in TMII as a cultural tourism program, so that tourists can get physical activity in the spot that has architecture attraction, and provide more cultural tourism experience but still superficial.Indonesian cultural resources according to the World Economic Forum is ranked 38 of 140 countries. One of the tourist destinations in Indonesia that use cultural resources as tourist attraction is Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (TMII). Along with the modernization of tourist interest, TMII establish cooperation to develop new tourist attractions. However, activities of majority tourists during their visit to TMII is just walking around, take pictures, recreation, or sport. Tourists cultural tourism experience are lack, whereas TMII have vision to be the leading of cultural tourism destination. This research aimed to identify the concept of cultural tourism products that can be applied in TMII based on tourists motivation, tourism attraction in TMII, and activities in demand by tourists. This research used descriptive method with qualitative approach. Results of data analysis show that the physical or physiological motivation is the highest motivation chosen by the respondents, tourism attraction that gets the highest score is the architecture, and the activity of interest is sightseeing activities. These three variables are matched with the criteria of socio-cultural tour and two things that forming total experience. Hence, this research proposed a formula of tourism product that can be applied and promoted in TMII as a cultural tourism program, so that tourists can get physical activity in the spot that has architecture attraction, and provide more cultural tourism experience but still superficial.

Profiling potential food tourists: an Australian study

Purpose – This paper aims to share the findings of a study of self-declared “foodies”. In particular this paper provides a demographic and socio-economic profile of the sample and their behavioural and travel preferences. Design/methodology/approach – An online survey was designed, incorporating existing literature. It was administered to a population of foodies in Australia. Data is analysed using SPSS®. Findings – Key results suggest food tourists are mostly female, well-educated and generally affluent. They seek diverse, regional and authentic yet tactile rather than passive experiences, and are willing to travel for food (and drink) complemented by cultural and sightseeing activities. Research limitations/implications – The geographic scope of this study is limited and the volume of data yielded from the study inhibits efforts to report all findings in a compact paper; the implication being future analysis and research is required. Practical implications – This study provides valuable insights to destination marketers seeking to niche food tourists. Originality/value – This study demographically and socio-behaviourally profiles foodies and provides insights into the domestic travel behaviours.

九州圏の海辺における広域景観形成の視点からみた国土分析に関する研究

The objective of this study is to recognize the basic parameters for planning the large scale coastline landscape through analyzing the National Land. The accessibilities and the landscape characteristics were investigated according to the 40 coastline area based on the watershed in Kyushu area.In accessing the accessibilities to the coastline, the existing road ratio and the time distance from central city were investigated. The landscape characteristics were analyzed by using GIS data bases. As the result of the study, the categorized characteristics of the coastline landscape were recognized and suggested basic parameters for people sightseeing activities in Kyushu era.

Estimation of Traffic Capacity at a Sightseeing Area by Network Equilibrium Theory

There are some sightseeing areas that the environmental disruption and traffic congestion occur by increase of sightseeing demands. These phenomenon decrease the attraction of itself. To guarantee the comfortable sightseeing for guests, the measures like a demand control and route guidance may be needed. In this paper, we define the capacity of the sightseeing area which represents the suitable sightseeing activity level. We propose its estimation method using the traffic assignment simulation based on the stochastic network assignment model with elastic demands, and examine its applicability.