The Impacts of Place Attachment on Environmentally Responsible Behavioral Intention and Satisfaction of Chinese Nature-Based Tourists

Increasing visits to protected areas in China have drawn public attention on the negative impacts on ecologically sensitive areas. Understanding potential determinants of the environmentally responsible behavioral intention of nature-based tourists has become a common focus in tourism studies. Scholars seek to explore potential determinants of visitors’ behavior, and the findings can be referenced by the managers of protected areas to formulate visitor management strategies. On the basis of a sample of 402 questionnaires collected in protected areas in South China, namely, Nanling National Forest Park and Dinghu Mountain National Nature Reserve, we explore the association between visitors’ place attachment and their satisfaction and environmentally responsible behavioral intention. The results show that place dependence and place identity are positively correlated with the satisfaction and environmentally responsible behavioral intention of visitors; thus, our results differ from those of previous studies on Western visitors. The lack of significant results regarding place social bonding revealed the shortcomings associated with visitor management in China’s protected areas. Chinese culture has a great influence on various findings in this study. All of the findings provide significant insights for management and policy-making regarding protected areas worldwide to accommodate the rising number of nature-based visitors to China. Keywords: place attachment; environmentally responsible behavioral intention; satisfaction; nature-based tourism; Chinese tourists; South Chin

Measuring the Gaps in the Projected Image and Perceived Image of Rural Tourism Destinations in China’s Yangtze River Delta

Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) at all levels have an ultimate goal of building strong and positive images for their destinations. However, the projected image from the supply side is not necessarily the mirror of the perceived image from the demand side. This study adopted the content analysis method to evaluate the projected image and perceived image of rural destinations in China to see whether there is any discrepancy between and within the two categories. Comparative analysis of different information sources including web contents and on-site visitor interviews were processed. The evaluation of image congruency demonstrates that official websites focus more on cognitive image elements (knowledge and beliefs of the place). Besides promoting attractions, it provides information on geography background and promotes local culture. Business web content promotes attractions, package tour, and activities which can generate revenue. The perceived image includes more sentiment contents: on-site visitors expressed more negative attitude, but social media comments are relatively positive. Keywords: destination image; projected image; perceived image; content analysis; rural touris

Recreational specialization and the marine-based conservation behaviour intention of recreational divers in Hong Kong

This study examined divers' recreational specialization, pro-environmental attitudes, and marine-based conservation behaviour intentions. A questionnaire-based data collection approach was used to survey 398 divers who visited popular diving sites in Hong Kong by employing structural equation modelling to determine the potential relationships among the proposed variables. The results showed a statistically positive relationship between divers' recreational specialization and their pro-environmental attitudes, along with a statistically valid relationship between divers' recreational specialization and their marine-based conservation behaviour intentions. However, divers' pro-environmental attitudes were not statistically significant with their marine-based conservation behaviour intentions; thus, the discrepancy regarding different research findings between the current and previous studies was further discussed. In particular, our findings confirmed that recreational specialization could be a reliable predictor of divers' pro-environmental attitudes and marine-based conservation behaviour intentions to fill the research gaps regarding scuba diving-based nature tourism in Hong Kong. Consequently, management implications and recommendations were presented in accordance with the development of marine environmental conservation and sustainable scuba diving tourism in Hong Kong

Understanding the influence of user-generated content on tourist loyalty behavior in a cultural World Heritage Site

The emergence of social media has revolutionized tourists’ decision-making processes and behaviours. This study focuses on the effect of user-generated content (UGC) on tourist loyalty behaviour by examining structural relationships between destination image, satisfaction, revisit intention, and word-of-mouth (WOM) publicity. Data were collected from domestic tourists to Gulangyu, a World Heritage Site in China. The findings of this study reveal that UGC indirectly affects tourist loyalty behaviour by influencing destination image and satisfaction. Moreover, the results demonstrate that factual UGC and emotional UGC positively affect tourists’ perceived value of the destination, with emotional UGC having a greater influence

The Cholecystectomy As A Day Case (CAAD) Score: A Validated Score of Preoperative Predictors of Successful Day-Case Cholecystectomy Using the CholeS Data Set

Background Day-case surgery is associated with significant patient and cost benefits. However, only 43% of cholecystectomy patients are discharged home the same day. One hypothesis is day-case cholecystectomy rates, defined as patients discharged the same day as their operation, may be improved by better assessment of patients using standard preoperative variables. Methods Data were extracted from a prospectively collected data set of cholecystectomy patients from 166 UK and Irish hospitals (CholeS). Cholecystectomies performed as elective procedures were divided into main (75%) and validation (25%) data sets. Preoperative predictors were identified, and a risk score of failed day case was devised using multivariate logistic regression. Receiver operating curve analysis was used to validate the score in the validation data set. Results Of the 7426 elective cholecystectomies performed, 49% of these were discharged home the same day. Same-day discharge following cholecystectomy was less likely with older patients (OR 0.18, 95% CI 0.15–0.23), higher ASA scores (OR 0.19, 95% CI 0.15–0.23), complicated cholelithiasis (OR 0.38, 95% CI 0.31 to 0.48), male gender (OR 0.66, 95% CI 0.58–0.74), previous acute gallstone-related admissions (OR 0.54, 95% CI 0.48–0.60) and preoperative endoscopic intervention (OR 0.40, 95% CI 0.34–0.47). The CAAD score was developed using these variables. When applied to the validation subgroup, a CAAD score of ≤5 was associated with 80.8% successful day-case cholecystectomy compared with 19.2% associated with a CAAD score >5 (p < 0.001). Conclusions The CAAD score which utilises data readily available from clinic letters and electronic sources can predict same-day discharges following cholecystectomy