Scenario Invention Task Technique (SITT): a practical innovation for qualitative research in a reef tourism study

The aim of this paper is to outline the use of a qualitative research method called the Scenario Invention Task Technique (SITT) in the context of a reef tourism study. The study was undertaken to gain a better understanding of the relationship between working time arrangements, sleep and the capacity to perform emotional labour in the reef tourism workforce of Far North Queensland (FNQ). To achieve this, focus groups were conducted with reef tourism workers during which the SITT was applied. This involved asking reef employees to create a challenging/negative customer service scenario to help stimulate insights. Employing a task that required participants to create a challenging customer service situation was considered to promote the acquisition of rich insights in a way that promoted applicability and trustworthiness of findings. The paper starts by describing the SITT and then outlines the research context of the study, followed by a section of how the SITT was applied. The paper concludes by offering reflections on the use of SITT and considers its broader application in tourism research

Snorkellers' environmentally conscious behaviour after visiting the Great Barrier Reef

The majority of tourists who visit Australia’s Great Barrier Reef (GBR) engage in snorkelling. Yet little is known about how snorkellers perceive this experience. The aim of this study was to investigate snorkeller behaviour by exploring their environmental opinions and to provide insights on the association between climate concerns and environmentally conscious behaviours of snorkellers. A self-administered questionnaire (n = 273) was distributed onboard reef tourism vessels visiting the study area. Approximately one-third of respondents believe that climate change and global warming are major threats to the GBR. Regression results indicate the environmentally conscious behaviour model (ECBM), a modified version of the norm activation model, is effective in understanding how a snorkeller’s level of climate concern (LCC) both directly and indirectly activates and influences a snorkeller’s environmentally conscious behaviour (ECB). LCC has a positive direct effect on ECB, and a positive indirect effect via environmental identity (EI), and personal environmental norms (PEN)

The Influence of Trail Design on the Impacts of Walkers, Mountain Bikers and Multi-use Trail Users: An Environmentally Responsible Approach

Trail design and building guidelines are essential tools for influencing the behaviour—and therefore the environmental impact—of users of walking, mountain biking and multi-use recreation trails. Yet, these tools are often not explicitly considered in research that monitors their environmental impact. This is the first study to investigate the role of trail design in shaping how walkers and mountain bikers utilise mountain biking, walking and multi-use trails. The research differentiates trail feature types to examine how they shape user behaviour and, therefore, environmental impact. This observational study uses time-series photographic imagery to examine behaviour and impacts over 12 months. Impacts at each site were examined using current trail building design guidelines. The findings show that shortcuts were commonly employed to avoid long sections on walker-only trails, and to cut across meandering tracks on the multi-use trails in the mountain bike park. Trail spread occurs when walkers use the edges of the trail to avoid rough or uneven surfaces such as stairs and tree roots. Depressions in the trail before technical mountain biking features such as berms and drops were also apparent. Further observations include toilet paper and litter on the walking trails. The research furthermore indicates the unintended environmental impacts when trail users did not adhere to specific trail features or did not use the trails as intended. Unique trail design principles are required where walkers and mountain bikers use the same trails, and this paper provides recommendations for improving trail design

Travel-related humour and COVID-19

This study aims to provide an overview of humorous travel-related memes shared during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 80 Internet memes were content analysed for emergent themes. The findings reveal three major themes: playful aggression, making fun of one’s longing for travel, and making fun of new travel realities. The identified themes were linked to the existing literature to better understand the memes being studied. The analysis of memes provides a methodologically agile way to study conditions that may otherwise be overlooked, e.g., peoples’ travel-related desires and concerns while in lockdown

Returning home

Pabel, A ORCiD: 0000-0003-1409-5496This chapter takes a closer look at the returning home experience of tourists. The restorative benefits of holidays to health and well-being are considered, for example positive effects on mood, quality of sleep, and overall life satisfaction. Both for short- and long-term holidays, tourists can face challenges in re-integrating into their home society, a process that is often referred to as reverse culture shock or re-entry crisis. The chapter employs various concepts to augment the understanding of the tourists in dealing with their post-holiday blues when returning home such as the fade-out effect and contrast effect. The chapter also considers the timing of the fade-out effect and looks at ways the returning tourist can manage or fail to manage their holiday benefits. The chapter also considers the negative souvenirs that tourists may bring home from their holiday including sunburn, insect bites and sexually transmitted diseases, which may affect tourists long after their holiday has finished

Assessing and enhancing humour in the tourism setting

Humour has been widely researched in other academic disciplines; however the topic has almost been overlooked within the field of tourism. Key opportunities exist to examine this underexplored topic in more detail and to highlight the tourism-humour relationship. In this thesis a particular focus was given to exploring the multifaceted construct of humour in a naturalistic way and among multiple tourism audiences.\ud \ud The overall aim of this thesis research is directed at understanding tourists' responses to humour. In particular the role humour plays in creating enjoyable and engaging tourism experiences is of prime interest. To achieve this overall aim, three studies were conducted, each of which addressed more specific aims. The aim of Study 1 was to develop a greater understanding of the humorous experiences that tourists report in their travel blogs. The aim of Study 2 was to examine tourists' perceptions about the use of humour they encountered at four different tourism settings. The aim of Study 3 was to measure the effect that changing humour scenarios had on tourists and to investigate how various humour variables relate to one another.\ud \ud This PhD thesis is divided into six chapters. The introductory chapter discusses previous studies conducted on the topic of humour and highlights the overall themes guiding this research. Chapter Two identifies the key concepts while focusing on research gaps and opportunities. These key concepts include considerations relating to the multicultural nature of humour, positive psychology and the experience economy, all of which are considered for the value they contribute to tourism studies. The chapter also states that this thesis research takes a multi-method approach guided by the paradigm of pragmatism. Chapters Three, Four and Five deal with each of the studies carried out and explain their specific methods, results and discussions. The tour guide studies in Chapters Four and Five were conducted in Tropical North Queensland (TNQ), Australia.\ud \ud Study 1, outlined in Chapter Three, consisted of an analysis of humorous episodes in travel blogs. A total sample of 200 travel blogs were sourced from four virtual travel community websites to examine the diverse kinds of humorous travel experiences that tourists report in their blogs. Using thematic content analysis allowed the researcher to identify four broad themes which showed that humour occurring during travel experiences varied greatly according to the context in which they occurred. The findings in this study are also linked back to pre-existing theories found in the literature, namely the three major humour theories and Pearce's (2009) comfort-concentration-connection model. This study of travel blogs was a fruitful approach to gaining initial and in-depth insights into the tourist-humour relationship by being able to build a record of the various humorous sources that tourists wrote about and to provide a descriptive overview of what kinds of humorous experiences tourists encounter during their travels.\ud \ud Study 2, presented in Chapter Four, involved focus groups to uncover participants' perspectives and opinions about the humour they encountered at four tourism settings. The sample consisted of 103 participants. The focus groups allowed for the collection of rich data which related directly to the experiences that tourists had on-site. The results of this study demonstrate that overall humour had a positive effect on participants' tourism experiences. By selecting four different tourism experiences, it was possible to compare how the use of humour differed in these settings. Pearce's (2009) comfortconcentration- connection model was explored in more detail by individually addressing each category. The results show that humour used by the tour guides increased participants' comfort levels, helped them be more mindful of educational comments made during the tours as well as potentially assisting the creation of pleasant memories to take home. Humour used in tourism presentations also made tourists feel more connected to the tour guides as well as other tourists who were part of the same tour. Moreover, the results show that there are also some tourism settings where participants considered the use of humour as inappropriate. This chapter also highlights the value of humour for tourism operators from the perspectives of the participants and outlines key considerations for tourism businesses who would like to increase their humour efforts. Overall, this study revealed some ways humour can be used to create more entertaining and engaging tourism experiences.\ud \ud Study 3 is presented in Chapter Five and consisted of a quasi-experiment conducted at two tourism settings. Tourists were exposed to humour manipulation scenarios in order to measure their responses in a questionnaire. Overall, 514 completed questionnaires were collected at the two tourism settings. This third study contributes and builds on the previous two studies by measuring what effect humour had on respondents' comfort, concentration and connection levels. Conducting this study at two tourism settings allowed for a comparative analysis to be undertaken to reveal how humour differed at both tourism settings. The results identified that the most frequently used categories of humour by the two tourism operations were amusing stories and friendly teasing. Overall, the correlational analysis showed that humour used by the tour guides during tourism experiences contributed significantly to the tourists' comfort, connection and concentration levels. The results also suggest that humour has its role to play in influencing the desire to visit other tourism attractions where humour might be used in similar ways.\ud \ud The concluding chapter provides an overall synthesis which integrates the key findings of the three studies. This chapter also outlines the theoretical and practical implications based on the findings of this thesis research. A new conceptual framework for the use of humour in tourism settings is proposed to advance knowledge in this area. The limitations of this research are addressed and subsequent recommendations for future studies are made

A narrative approach to understanding recreational dive tourists’ experiences on coral reefs

Pabel, A ORCiD: 0000-0003-1409-5496This chapter explores tourist blogs to gain better insights into dive tourists’ experiences at various coral reef destinations. Using a purposive sampling strategy, 100 travel blogs were selected from two travel blog websites. Thematic content analysis of these blogs resulted in common themes such as marine life, underwater scenery, social aspects, service related attributes and wreck diving opportunities. A further theme dealt with the issues contributing to dive tourists’ disappointment and concerns. Knowledge of this kind can provide important information to managers at coral reef destinations and marine tourism operations regarding what strategies could assist in improving experiences for recreational scuba divers. © 2018 selection and editorial matter, Bruce Prideaux and Anja Pabel; individual chapters, the contributors

Editorial: Humour and its use in tourism contexts

This issue provides a mix of basic research and applied research to expand the existing base of theoretical knowledge, and to provide answers to more practical problems in this area of study. The broad range of topics and contexts represented in this special issue may have implications for tour operators, accommodation establishments, and destination marketing organisations. These papers may become a guide for tourism operators wishing to include more humour into their tourism experiences. It is also hoped that this issue will serve as a source of inspiration for scholars from both disciplines, tourism research and humour research, to carry out future studies that will advance our understanding of humour and laughter in tourism settings. For me as a guest editor of this special issue, it is very pleasing to see an increasing number of scholars researching the tourism-humour relationship

Editorial: Humour and its use in tourism contexts

Pabel, A ORCiD: 0000-0003-1409-5496This issue provides a mix of basic research and applied research to expand the existing base of theoretical knowledge, and to provide answers to more practical problems in this area of study. The broad range of topics and contexts represented in this special issue may have implications for tour operators, accommodation establishments, and destination marketing organisations. These papers may become a guide for tourism operators wishing to include more humour into their tourism experiences. It is also hoped that this issue will serve as a source of inspiration for scholars from both disciplines, tourism research and humour research, to carry out future studies that will advance our understanding of humour and laughter in tourism settings. For me as a guest editor of this special issue, it is very pleasing to see an increasing number of scholars researching the tourism-humour relationship

A narrative approach to understanding recreational dive tourists’ experiences on coral reefs

This chapter explores tourist blogs to gain better insights into dive tourists’ experiences at various coral reef destinations. Using a purposive sampling strategy, 100 travel blogs were selected from two travel blog websites. Thematic content analysis of these blogs resulted in common themes such as marine life, underwater scenery, social aspects, service related attributes and wreck diving opportunities. A further theme dealt with the issues contributing to dive tourists’ disappointment and concerns. Knowledge of this kind can provide important information to managers at coral reef destinations and marine tourism operations regarding what strategies could assist in improving experiences for recreational scuba divers. © 2018 selection and editorial matter, Bruce Prideaux and Anja Pabel; individual chapters, the contributors