Consuming post-disaster destinations: The case of Sichuan, China

Addressing the call for a better understanding of tourist behavior in relation to post-disaster destinations, this study explores the motivations and intentions of potential domestic tourists (from non-hit areas) to visit Sichuan, China in the aftermath of an earthquake. Drawing on dark tourism theories, this study offers a more comprehensive insight into the consumption of post-disaster destinations, aiming to capture the impact of the changes to the destination’s attributes on tourist behavior. The findings move beyond the common approach to tourism recovery, which solely focuses on reviving the traditional ‘‘non-dark’’ products. This study reveals the importance of newly formed dark attributes that emerge from the disaster as another means to destination recovery, reflected in the emergence of new tourist segments

The Need for an E-Commerce Platform for India

Tourism and technology are synonymous with each other. There is no operation in the tourism industry which so far has not been technologically driven. The Ministry of Tourism (MoT), Government of India launched an ecommerce platform on July 25, 2007 in collaboration with Eviivo, a UK based online solution provider. This allowed domestic and international tourists to access information and book facilities online. The existence of a search engine on the home page of incredibleindia.org facilitated information search and upon selection, online booking facilities helped customers to book accommodation facilities. However, various tourism associations opposed the move of the MoT, Govt. of India. The associations, under the banner of a joint action group, demanded withdrawal of the e-commerce platform and cancellation of the appointment of Eviivo, UK. Subsequently, the government withdrew the decision owing to the pressure of the associations. As a result, the incredibleindia.org site at present does not have any flash banner for online booking. However, any such decisions of withdrawal or approval should be based on some survey and research. In this regard, in the present article the perception of operators as well as perspective tourists have been studied. The samples of operators and tourists in the Union Territory of Puducherry were selected as per the convenience of the researcher. The data collected through structured questionnaire were compared based on the Student’s T-test. The findings present the existence of significant difference between the operators and perspective tourists on the issues related to information search and property management solutions whereas there is no difference of perception of tourists as well as operators on issues such as online booking and payment gateway services, online market place for buyers and sellers and online marketing. Thus, the samples in Puducherry seem to have supported the move to have an e-commerce platform of the entire country as opposed to the move of their associations at national level. The findings have been substantiated with the related literature in the fiel

Mobility patterns of the elderly tourist in Algarve

The present work is part of the Project for Scientific Research and Techno-logical Development "Accessibility for All in Tourism" focuses on modal in-terfaces designed according to the concepts of "Universal Design" and "Age Sensitive Design". In this project 851 surveys were carried out for elderly tourists, who arrived in Algarve (Portugal) through the international Airport of Faro, in the summer of 2018, with a view to understanding their prefer-ences and needs in terms of mobility. It presents the characterization of the senior tourist in Algarve, according to: gender, age, academic qualification, situation in the relation to the profession, nationality, disability and/or disa-bilities that affects mobility and the need to use technical aids to move. It analyses and compares, from the point of view of sustainable mobility, the mobility of the elderly tourist, by gender and age group, in the country where they reside and in the Algarve region. This information is useful for local au-thorities and for transport operators in order to make the mobility of elderly tourists, in Algarve, more sustainable from a social, economic and environ-mental standpoint.The Research Project ACCES4ALL - Accessibility for All in Tourisminfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Park rangers\u27 behaviors and their effects on tourists and Tibetan macaques (Macaca thibetana) at Mt. Huangshan, China

Previous studies have reported the negative impacts of tourism on nonhuman primates (NHPs) and tourists and advocated the improvement of tourism management, yet what constitutes good quality management remains unclear. We explored whether rates of macaque aggression and self-directed behaviors (SDBs) differed under the supervision of two park ranger teams at the Valley of the Wild Monkeys (VWM) in Mt. Huangshan, Anhui Province, China. The two ranger teams provisioned and managed a group of macaques on an alternating monthly basis. Monkey, tourist and ranger behaviors were collected from August 16–September 30, 2012. Macaque aggression and SDB rates did not differ significantly under the management of the two teams. Overall, there was little intervention in tourist-macaque interactions by park rangers, and even when rangers discouraged tourists’ undesirable behaviors, tourist interactions with monkeys persisted. Furthermore, only one or sometimes two park rangers managed monkeys and tourists, and rangers established dominance over the monkeys to control them. In order to effectively manage tourists and monkeys by a single park ranger, we recommend that rangers: (1) prohibit tourists from feeding; (2) move around the viewing platform more frequently; and (3) limit the number of tourists each visiting session

Destination on the Move in the Mind of People: Investigating Destination Image of the Tourists

It goes without saying that destination image is one of the most important factors that keeps the tourist moving i.e. to travel. Image perception before and after travel also varies that has impact on tourists revisit and recommendation to others. In this research we have tried to measure the destination image perceptions of two different time periods so that the image gap can be bridged. Initially the variables are factor analyzed to find out the latent variables that shape the image. After that paired sample t test has been conducted to test if there is any significant difference between perceptions in two time periods. We have also tried to estimate the in?uence of cultural values on destination image using ANOVA. Finally future research scope has been explored. The empirical findings reveal the evidence of an image gap that should be bridged. And surprisingly no evidence of significant influence of cultural values on destination image was found. Keywords: Destination image, perceptions, cultural values, before and after visit image perceptio

Tourists as Mobile Gamers: Gamification for Tourism Marketing

Gaming as a cutting-edge concept has recently been used by some innovative tourism sectors as a marketing tool and as a method of deeper engagement with visitors. This research aims to explore the gamification trend and its potential for experience development and tourism marketing. Using a focus group, this paper discusses gaming and tourism, and explores what drives tourists to play games. The results suggest tourists’ game playing motivation is multidimensional. Players tend to start with purposive information seeking, then move on to an intrinsic stimulation. Socialization is also an important dimension. The research demonstrates several implications for tourism marketing

Tourism experiences in motion. Mobile, visual and psychophysiological methods to capture tourists “on the move”

Experience measurement and design have become leading management objectives to ensure destination competitiveness in recent years. This paper applies the user-centred perspective of mobile video ethnography with bio-sensing and facial action coding to study journey experiences – i.e. those tourist experiences happening in motion. The use of mobile, visual and psychophysiological methods represents a novel opportunity to deeper explore physical, sensory, social and emotional shades of tourist experiences. Experience measurement and design in the field of tourist transport has the potential to shape more sustainable and experientially rich forms of mobility. Results show and compare unique features of cycling and motorcycling journeys, highlighting the interface between riding and non-riding tasks, as well as the importance of speed variation and time duration in assessing the relationship with land- and soundscapes

A perspective on traditional verses modern technologies in tracking the tourists

Historic city offers tourists a mixture of cultural heritage and leisure activities in a unique setting. However, there are limited research addressing the movement and behavior of tourists in tourism destination that leads the understanding of urban function towards "heterogeneity" and "multi functionality". In order to maintain and ensuring long-term success as an attractive destination for tourists, tourist’s movement and behavior is most likely an important element to be fully understood by planners and decision maker. Hence, the method of tracking tourist is one of the important aspects in providing better picture, especially in the context of obtaining accurate data on the tourist’s move. The traditional methods used to collect data on spatial and temporal activities are limited in accuracy and validity (Shoval et al. 2007). However, advance in technologies such as Global Positioning System (GPS) can provide an opportunity to give more accurate data on tracking tourists. Hence, the studies were designed to determine the potential worth of the various tracking technologies for research on tourist movement in Melaka historic cities. The discussion in this paper focusing on 6 traditional and 5 modern methods of tracking tourists movement. Each of the tracking methods has their advantages and disadvantages. Accuracy, availability, location of the study area, costs, privacy of travelling, duration of tracking and suitability in tracking daily movement are used as variables to identify which tracking method is the best to track tourists in heritage site. Existing literature indicates that application of GPS in a mobile or smart phone emerges as the best option method for tracking tourists in Melaka heritage site. By comparing methods of tracking tourists, it may assist researcher to choose the best option of method to obtain accurate and precise data about tourist movement. Thus, the study offered a systematic review of several tracking technologies in which potentially able to push the boundaries of tourism studies, as well as improving policy making, planning and management in tourism area

Tracking technologies in tourism: a bibliometric and content review

Understanding how tourists move within a destination can give an important contribution to the planning and management of destinations, particularly in terms of their impacts. Therefore, studying the spatial and temporal behaviour of tourists, namely their physical movements in space and time, implies resorting to a set of techniques that enable the tracking of their movements. This paper intends to identify the most important tracking technologies on tourism research and its major advantages and disadvantages. Based on a literature review, this study provides a critical review of the most important tracking technologies in tourism research divided into two phases, a quantitative analysis based on the Scopus database and a bibliometric analysis coupled with a manual analysis of documents (content analysis).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio