Leisure Services Marketing: Quantity or Quality?

Marketing has, in recent years, become an integral part of the public leisure service profession. However, through adapting marketing practices and techniques an emphasis on providing the most popular recreation opportunities may result. This paper reviews some recent literature on the leisure service marketing process and argues that there is a current bias toward increasing market share and patronage. This bias reduces the importance of a number of quality issues which are necessary functions of public leisure service agencies, these include; benefits to participants and society, environmental protection, leisure needs and satisfaction levels and diversity of recreational opportunity. A framework for the inclusion of these quality considerations in marketing models and techniques is outlined

Potential Impacts of a Major Sport/Tourism Event: The America\u27s Cup 2000, Auckland, New Zealand

The America\u27s Cup is reputed to be the oldest international sporting competition. It has been contested between yachts representing yacht clubs of foreign nations since 1851. Team New Zealand, representing the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, successfully challenged for the Cup of San Diego in 1995. In the austral summer of 1999/2000, for only the second time in history, the America\u27s Cup will be hosted by a country other than the United States of America. The hosting of this event presents an enormous challenge for a small isolated nation like New Zealand. A record 18 syndicates have lodged entries for the Cup. The infrastructural needs of these challenging groups, the huge influx of visitors over the Cup competition and the logistics of managing a large maritime sporting event are far beyond anything New Zealand has hosted before. A NZ$60 million redevelopment of a yacht harbor is currently underway in downtown Auckland. New Zealand and international commercial sponsors have been signed to help fund the defense of the Cup and the organization of the event. Central, regional and local government are gearing up to cope with the estimated additional 120,000 visitors to the city of Auckland for the event. Over 2,000 media representatives from over 40 countries are expected. The international exposure for New Zealand could be worth as much as NZ$90 million. Economic impact assessments predict that the Cup could be worth in excess of NZ$2.2 billion. If Team New Zealand defeats the challenger and retains the Cup these financial and other benefits will increase further as New Zealand is able to host a further Cup event in the future. Thus, the America\u27s Cup presents an enormous challenge and an unprecedented opportunity for New Zealand. This sporting event will have impacts that go far beyond its attraction for tourists or its financial benefits. It has the potential, if successfully staged and successfully defended, to create a legacy that re-defines the place of this small island nation on the world stage

Exploring the Travel Behavior and Experiences of Norwegian Surfers: Cold- Versus Warm-Water Surfing

More affordable travel opportunities have facilitated a swift rise in surf tourism, which is a growing multibillion dollar global business niche within the broader sport tourism industry. It is argued that a growing number of surfers who are searching for the perfect wave without the crowds found in well-established surfing destinations are shifting to cold-water surfing. Previous research on surf tourism has largely focused on warm- and temperate-water surfing and related travel. However, an exploration of and an attempt to comprehend cold-water surf tourism and how it compares to similar activities in warm water has been overlooked. This study focuses on understanding the travel behavior and related experiences of Norwegian surf tourists domestically and internationally, to cold- and warm-water destinations. Data were collected using a phenomenological approach and semistructured in-depth interviews with 18 experienced Norwegian surfers. Results show that these surfers are highly mobile, visiting warm-water surf destinations such as Morocco, Bali, Australia, and Hawaii and also cold-water surf destinations such as Norway, Iceland, Scotland, and Canada. They travel to surf at least once a year, staying between 10 days and 3 months, preferably in cheap accommodation. The longer the travel distance, the longer the stay. Their experiences of “localism,” where local surfers behave aggressively toward visiting surfers, were more common in crowded warm-water destinations. In addition to the enjoyment of surfing, these Norwegian surf tourists valued opportunities to create new social relationships, experience new and different cultures, and expand their “world-view” via their surf travel. They appreciated unique natural environments and experienced a deep connection to nature. This research presents the first empirical data on the travel behavior and related experiences of surf tourists from a nontraditional surfing nation in ScandinaviaacceptedVersio

Behavioural effects of tourism on oceanic common dolphins, Delphinus sp., in New Zealand: the effects of Markov analysis variations and current tour operator compliance with regulations

Common dolphins, Delphinus sp., are one of the marine mammal species tourism operations in New Zealand focus on. While effects of cetacean-watching activities have previously been examined in coastal regions in New Zealand, this study is the first to investigate effects of commercial tourism and recreational vessels on common dolphins in an open oceanic habitat. Observations from both an independent research vessel and aboard commercial tour vessels operating off the central and east coast Bay of Plenty, North Island, New Zealand were used to assess dolphin behaviour and record the level of compliance by permitted commercial tour operators and private recreational vessels with New Zealand regulations. Dolphin behaviour was assessed using two different approaches to Markov chain analysis in order to examine variation of responses of dolphins to vessels. Results showed that, regardless of the variance in Markov methods, dolphin foraging behaviour was significantly altered by boat interactions. Dolphins spent less time foraging during interactions and took significantly longer to return to foraging once disrupted by vessel presence. This research raises concerns about the potential disruption to feeding, a biologically critical behaviour. This may be particularly important in an open oceanic habitat, where prey resources are typically widely dispersed and unpredictable in abundance. Furthermore, because tourism in this region focuses on common dolphins transiting between adjacent coastal locations, the potential for cumulative effects could exacerbate the local effects demonstrated in this study. While the overall level of compliance by commercial operators was relatively high, non-compliance to the regulations was observed with time restriction, number or speed of vessels interacting with dolphins not being respected. Additionally, prohibited swimming with calves did occur. The effects shown in this study should be carefully considered within conservation management plans, in order to reduce the risk of detrimental effects on common dolphins within the region

A conceptual model of tourist-wildlife interaction: The case for education as a management strategy

There are a wide variety of opportunities for people to interact with wildlife and the demand for these opportunities is growing rapidly. This range of opportunities can be viewed as a Spectrum of Tourist-Wildlife Interaction Opportunities (SoTWIO). Within this spectrum are both situations where tourists view captive wildlife in facilities such as zoos and circuses and ones where tourists interact with wildlife in the wild, for example, in national parks or the marine environment. There are a wide range of management regimes and structures which are used to control the interaction between tourists and wildlife, and these regimes can be categorised as physical, regulatory, economic and educational. Currently, the management of interaction is dominated by physical and regulatory strategies, but considerable potential exists to increase the role of education-based management strategies. The development of a conceptual model which clarifies the range of wildlife interaction opportunities and the management regimes used, and which specifies the outcomes desired, establishes a basis upon which the effectiveness of education can be tested

Seasonal and age/size-related occurrence of a barnacle (Xenobalanus globicipitis) on bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus)

No abstract available

Designing self-reply questionnaires to survey tourists: Issues and guidelines for researchers

ABSTRACT The use of self-reply questionnaires as a data collection instrument is common in tourism research. However, while there is a long tradition of use of these instruments in social science research, there has been little discussion of the particular needs and challenges created by tourism situations. This paper blends both theory, practical and experience to suggest a range of issues and guidelines which researchers may find useful in preparing a selfreply qu.estionnaire. A number of technical issues associated with surveys are also addressed. A number of principles and examples of good practice from the literature on survey methods and survey design together with the problems of using this positivist mode of data collection in tourism scenarios are developed