Opinions on Riverboat Casinos and the Perceived Impacts on Community Quality by Quad Cities\u27 Residents

The purposes of the study were to determine the opinions of Quad Cities residents about legalized riverboat casinos in their communities and their perceptions on the importance of community quality attributes and impacts of legalized riverboat casinos on these attributes. Differences of opinions among respondents with different demographic characteristics also were examined. Stratified systematic random sampling method was used to draw samples from the Quad Cities telephone directory; 200 residents were selected from each city. Of the 800 questionnaires mailed, 231 were returned. Residents agreed that the presence of riverboat casinos was good for the community. The majority of community quality attributes were rated as either very important or important. Residents perceived all attributes to be either improved or having no change because of the riverboat casino operations

Competitive Landscape of Asian Cruise Ports

The cruise industry has experienced a stable growth with an average of 7.2 % annual growth rate of passenger numbers since 1990 (Cruise Lines International Association [CLIA], 2010). The popularity of cruise vacation among the public can also be reflected in the full occupancy of cruise lines and the continuous increase of supply (CLIA, 2013a). Data from the 26 member cruise lines of CLIA indicated that 13 more ships were introduced in 2012, with 17,774 new beds (CLIA, 2013b). Despite the increased revenue of cruise tourism, only a very small percentage of people in the world have cruised. Taking the U.S. for an example, only 3 % of Americans traveled with cruise in 2011 even with the country’s dominant role in the global cruising arena. Therefore, there is ample room for further development of cruise tourism in the global market. Although the development of cruise tourism is not a recent phenomenon, the focus of development has been on North America followed by Europe. In 2012, as much as 68 % of cruise passengers were sourced from North America (CLIA, 2013c). The European cruise source markets also maintained a double-digit annual growth rate between 2007 and 2011 (European Cruise Council, 2013). While remaining active in North America and Europe, the cruise industry has started to explore new markets in Asia in recent years. The rising role of Asia in the global economy has drawn much attention to the Asi

Brand performance of Chinese domestic vs. international hotels: Perceptions of operators as well as domestic and foreign guests

The significant differences in financial performance between internationally branded hotels and domestically branded hotels in China inspired this study. As part of the research, we surveyed hotel operators and guests on their perception of brand performance of the hotel they managed and stayed at, respectively. Results showed that managers of internationally branded hotels were more positive about their brand performance than the guests were, whereas managers of domestically branded hotels had a similar, or sometimes lower, assessment of their brand performance. Surprisingly, from the guests’ perspective, domestic hotels received higher ratings on brand choice intention and brand loyalty, while receiving similar ratings on all other brand-related measurements, as compared to international hotels. Significant differences were also found in brand quality, trust in management, and reliability among the sub-samples. Chinese guests rated these components lower for both internationally and domestically branded hotels, while foreign guests showed stronger intentions of choosing the same domestic brand in the future. We discuss the implications for both international and domestic hotel operators.Keywords: brand performance, brand equity, China hotel, international hotel brand, domestic hotel bran

Regional Tourism Collaboration in the Pearl River Delta, China

Macau’s gaming boom and the planned construction of the Hong Kong, Macau, and Zhuhai (HMZ) Bridge present good opportunities for the three destinations to develop tourism. However, developing tourism without regional coordination and collaboration could result in overcapacity and cut-throat competition among HMZ and dampen the healthy growth of tourism in the region. This study investigates the HMZ tourism cooperation issue by conducting in-depth interviews with government officials, industry practitioners and tourism researchers in HMZ. The question it seeks to answer is: How should the three destinations join hands to develop the region’s tourism in a cooperative way? Based on the interviews, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analyses were conducted with a focus on HMZ’s internal relationship and threats from external competitors in tourism development. Policy recommendations that could benefit HMZ as an integrated region were made based on the analyses

Divergence in Variety Seeking: An Exploratory Study among International Travelers

In this study, we analyze the influence of variety seeking and exploratory buying on travelers’ consumption behavior in an international context. The study also compares Asian travelers with Western travelers. Several factors which help to explain divergence in variety seeking are included in the analysis. Results demonstrate that variety seeking and exploratory tendency have a significant relation with travelers’ consumption behavior (both Asian and Western travelers). Specific results emerged, such as: customers who have a high tendency for novelty seeking are less loyal. However, no significant difference has been identified between Asian and Western tourists

Resident Sentiment: Preliminary Conceptualization and Measurement

Understanding how residents view and react to tourism development is an important topic in tourism literature. To date, most studies focused on the formation and change of locals’ attitudes, whose predictive power to behaviors remains controversial. This study proposes “resident sentiment” as a more encompassing concept to describe local residents’ overall views of tourism development, with attitude as a constituent part. Further, the research team suggests two levels of sentiment: individual sentiment being an internal disposition shaped mainly by private encounters, and public sentiment being shared feelings and reactions resulted from dynamic, multilateral interactions among people. Guided by social exchange and social representations theories, personal experience, social interactions, and destination characteristics are proposed as potential sources of individual sentiment, and mass and social media as a proxy of a community’s public sentiment. A model is proposed to illustrate the determinants and consequences of resident sentiment and interrelationships among key variables

A Study of the Cognition-Action Gap in Knowledge Management

We investigated three types of volitional control mechanisms that may impact people’s knowledge management (KM) practices. Our results show that, when employing KM, people do not always perform in a manner consis- tent with their beliefs concerning attitudes and intentions. This cognition-behavior inconsistency can be ex- plained by volitional control mechanisms. Specifically, both perceived self-efficacy (Bandura 1997) and action control (Kuhl and Bechmänn 1985) play a role in motivating individuals to share and use knowledge, while perceived behavioral control does not. In addition, action/state orientation moderates a person’s enactment of subjective norm and self-efficacy beliefs into intentions just as it moderates enactment of perceived behavioral control belief into behaviors. These results have important theoretical and managerial implication

Principal–Agent Relationship Within a Cruise Supply Chain Model for China

Changes in travelers’ booking habits and the evolution of technology have come to threaten the existence of traditional travel agents (TAs). However, the cruise industry still relies heavily on TAs as its main distribution channel. A qualitative study was conducted to investigate the networks, relationships, and power distribution between cruise companies and TAs using a triangulation method via a tourism supply chain model. Principal–agent (P-A) theory was taken as the framework to describe various parties’ relationships and roles. Several TA business models were identified, including group blocks (i.e., guaranteed and nonguaranteed) and charter cruises (i.e., retail or resale and corporate; meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions). Results show an imbalance of power between parties due to unique business practices and customer preferences in Mainland China. Principals (i.e., cruise companies) were found to rely excessively on agents (i.e., TAs) to create demand, with the growing number of cruise lines leading agents to overpower principals. The alliance among TAs further affected the principal–agent relationship. A refined tourism supply chain model tailored to the cruise industry is thus proposed herein; this cruise supply chain model simplifies the complicated business network relationships between cruise companies and TAs in China