Enabling experiences - The role of tour operators and tour leaders in creating and managing package tourism experiences

siirretty Doriast

Well-being and wellness tourism – Same, same but different? Conceptual discussions and empirical evidence

During the past decades, health and well-being have become important motives for consumption, attracting the interest of scholars from different disciplines. One of the major challenges concerning both academic research and the well-being tourism industry is, however, the conceptual confusion related to the key terms well-being and wellness. The inconsistent use of the concepts is likely to lead to misunderstandings, false expectations, and unsuccessful tourism experiences. The current study examines how well-being and wellness are defined within consumer and tourism research, and, based on qualitative data (n=22), analyses how they are understood and used within the tourism industry. The results highlight a weak conceptual understanding among the industry professionals, and confirm that there are severe inconsistencies in the use of the key concepts. Wellness was far more commonly used than well-being, contradicting the recommendations of the Finnish Tourist Board, which considers well-being as a more suitable for the Finnish context. Furthermore, there seems to be a lack of understanding and even ignorance of how important conceptual clarity is for the formation of tourists’ expectations and experiences. Therefore, further research is needed and requires collaboration with the well-being tourism industry.During the past decades, health and well-being have become important motives for consumption, attracting the interest of scholars from different disciplines. One of the major challenges concerning both academic research and the well-being tourism industry is, however, the conceptual confusion related to the key terms well-being and wellness. The inconsistent use of the concepts is likely to lead to misunderstandings, false expectations, and unsuccessful tourism experiences. The current study examines how well-being and wellness are defined within consumer and tourism research, and, based on qualitative data (n=22), analyses how they are understood and used within the tourism industry. The results highlight a weak conceptual understanding among the industry professionals, and confirm that there are severe inconsistencies in the use of the key concepts. Wellness was far more commonly used than well-being, contradicting the recommendations of the Finnish Tourist Board, which considers well-being as a more suitable for the Finnish context. Furthermore, there seems to be a lack of understanding and even ignorance of how important conceptual clarity is for the formation of tourists’ expectations and experiences. Therefore, further research is needed and requires collaboration with the well-being tourism industry

Does satisfaction with package tours lead to successful vacation experiences?

Tour operators play a key role in the creation of destination experiences by assembling and distributing package tourism products. This study examines how satisfaction with the components of a package tour affects the success of a vacation experience by analyzing customer satisfaction data (n=38,153) from the largest tour operator in Finland. A principal component analysis identified six dimensions of a package tour, of which a regression model indicated that tour operator's destination services and accommodation services were the key factors in explaining the success of the vacation experience. Pre-tour services and environmental issues were also essential, whereas flight and airport services were the least important. However, these six components explained only 34% of the variance in the success of an experience. Therefore, it is argued that satisfaction with tour operators’ services has only a limited impact on the success of a package tourism experience. This strengthens the idea that hybrid and complex tourism experiences are influenced by various factors and actors, many of which are irrespective of the tour operator

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Matkailututkimus 13: 1-2/2017

Matkailututkimuksen avainkäsitteet

Elämykset ovat matkailun suola: äärimmäisen keskeinen sisältö ja kenties tärkein voimavara (Tung & Ritchie, 2011; Walls, Okumus, Wang & Kwun, 2011). Matkailunähtävyydet ja muut vetovoimatekijät toki houkuttelevat matkailijoita kohteisiin, mutta pohjimmiltaan matkailijat tavoittelevat elämyksiä, emotionaalisia kokemuksia ja tuntemuksia. Globaalin matkailusektorin toimijat lupaavatkin matkailijoille toinen toistaan upeampia elämyksiä, mutta tosiasiassa elämyksiä ei voi tuottaa, ostaa tai myydä, sillä ne ovat luonteeltaan hyvin henkilökohtaisia ja tapahtuvat aina kokijan mielessä (Tung & Ritchie, 2011; Uriely, 2005; Walls ym., 2011). Tietty matkailunähtävyys, -kohde tai -tuote voi olla yhdelle matkailijalle upea elämys ja toiselle täysin arkipäiväinen kokemus. Matkailutoimijat voivat kuitenkin luoda olosuhteita ja ympäristöjä, joissa elämysten syntyminen on mahdollista ja jopa todennäköistä (Komppula, 2006; Mossberg, 2007). Kovassa kansainvälisen matkailun kilpailutilanteessa voittajia ovat ne, jotka tässä tehtävässä parhaiten onnistuvat.Lapland University Pres