Productivity of U.S. casinos and casino hotels, 1997—2007

This paper evaluates the productivity of casinos and casino hotels in the USA in order to identify factors (both regulatory and managerial) that contribute to efficient operation. This paper uses data from the Economic Census (1997, 2002, and 2007) that captures employment, payroll, and revenue data for both commercial and Indian casinos. A portfolio of performance measures was used to describe casino and casino hotel performance aggregated at the state level. Results support the existence of economies of size and of scale, market influences, and productivity growth over time

Exploring Unplanned/Impulsive Travel Decision Making

Travelers are often open to the possibility of spontaneous decisions and changing specific plans en route, because of personal impulsiveness, sensation seeking desire, certain travel contexts, new information obtained during the trip, diverse preferences of travel party member, or the occurrence of unexpected constraints. Many decisions about travel components, hence, may be made without prior planning. However, the study of unplanned or impulsive travel behavior has drawn little attention. This study tries to fill this gap in the literature. The results show that travelers who are male, who travel to visit family/friends, shop, or who are without past experience to the destinations make a majority of their decisions after arrival at the destination. Implications of the study’s results and recommendations for future research are discussed

Finding Destinations in Search Engine Results

It is generally understood that information about products and services is essential in creating consumers’ perceptions and expectations towards tourism experiences. One of the channels potential tourists rely on is word-of-mouth, whose importance increased sharply since the rise of websites that allow tourists to share their experiences (consumer generated content). In this study we explore this issue by examining the prominence of one type of user generated content, Wikipedia, in destination search results. It was found that Wikipedia articles appear near the top of the list of retrieved results in nearly all of the top search engines. Implications are made regarding the use of Wikipedia articles to promote the destination

Festival Mindfulness: Assessing the Relationship between Learning and Experience Outcomes

This study examines the effects of learning motivation on attendee experience through an application of Mindfulness theory. In this context, guests at a large annual festival in the Philadelphia area were surveyed on their overall experience and learning outcomes. Despite previous research to the contrary, this particular festival context did not lead to statistically significant differences between learning motivated and non-learning motivated attendees. These results may have been due to the lack of key setting factors, such as: interactive exhibits, multisensory media, building connections to visitors and novelty. This research has implications related to festival planning, marketing and creating greater attendee experiences

Productivity of U.S. casinos and casino hotels, 1997—2007

previously providedThis paper evaluates the productivity of casinos and casino hotels in the USA in order to identify factors (both regulatory and managerial) that contribute to efficient operation. This paper uses data from the Economic Census (1997, 2002, and 2007) that captures employment, payroll, and revenue data for both commercial and Indian casinos. A portfolio of performance measures was used to describe casino and casino hotel performance aggregated at the state level. Results support the existence of economies of size and of scale, market influences, and productivity growth over time

A typology of risk in vacation travel

Typescript (photocopy).The goal of this research was to develop a better understanding of how risk attitudes influence vacation behavior. An exploratory field study was conducted to evaluate the risk attitude--vacation behavior relationship. A sample of residents in College Station, Texas completed a self-administered survey instrument that elicited general attitudes about risk, attitudes about risk in vacations and perceptions of risk associated with the most recently visited destination. Information that described the most recent vacation was also collected. Analysis of this information indicated that general attitudes about risk were not related to the more situationally specific risk attitudes concerning vacations and destinations. Further analysis identified three broad types of vacation-oriented risk attitudes. A majority of the respondents did not perceive much risk in vacation activities (the risk neutral group). A second group, representing about 21% of the sample, perceived risks related to physical danger and equipment problems (the functional risk group). A third group, representing about 9% of the respondents, viewed their destination as being riskier than vacations in general (the place risk group). The identified risk groups differed in several vacation behaviors. For example, individuals in both the place risk and functional risk groups were more likely to have used the home of friends or relatives as a source of accommodation or to have been on a repeat visit than were respondents in the risk neutral group. Members of the risk neutral group were more likely to have used travel experts when planning their trip or to have previously visited Europe or the Caribbean than respondents in either the place or functional risk groups. In summary, the results of this research indicated that understanding risk attitudes provided useful information about vacation behavior. Furthermore, risk handling strategies in vacations differed from those reported in the consumer behavior literature, indicating that a strong situational component influences the relationship between risk attitudes and behavior

Exploring Unplanned/Impulsive Travel Decision Making

previously providedTravelers are often open to the possibility of spontaneous decisions and changing specific plans en route, because of personal impulsiveness, sensation seeking desire, certain travel contexts, new information obtained during the trip, diverse preferences of travel party member, or the occurrence of unexpected constraints. Many decisions about travel components, hence, may be made without prior planning. However, the study of unplanned or impulsive travel behavior has drawn little attention. This study tries to fill this gap in the literature. The results show that travelers who are male, who travel to visit family/friends, shop, or who are without past experience to the destinations make a majority of their decisions after arrival at the destination. Implications of the study’s results and recommendations for future research are discussed

Economies of Scale and the Atlantic City Casino Industry

Research has produced mixed results regarding the presence of economies of scale in the US casino industry. This study replicated and extended two previous studies (Gu, 2001: Marfels, 1995) that examined economies of scale among Atlantic City casinos. Results were mixed. Depending on how size was operationalized there either was or wasn’t evidence supporting scale economies in Atlantic City. These results have implications for future development in Atlantic City suggesting that management processes may be more important in achieving economies of scale than is the simple physical size of the casino floor