Perceived Value in Tourism Experience

Perceived value has been found to have a direct positive impact on future behavioral intention. However, this impact may also be influenced by tourism experience because tourism experience is the result of the values perceived by tourists and it has been recognized as a powerful driver of future behavioral intention. The relationships among perceived value, tourism experience, and future behavioral intention have not been explored adequately in previous studies. To bridge this gap, this research will give insights into these constructs and relationships. Both qualitative and quantitative methods will be adopted. This study is expected to give a clear interpretation of perceived value in the tourism context and to develop a measurement scale of perceived value. Additionally, it will build a model to explain the relationships among perceived value, tourism experience, and future behavioral intention

Breathing New Life into Old Theories

Various models and theories have been applied in tourism studies, and almost all the classic theories are derived from Western studies but their application is not only limited to that context. However, the models and theories are from the perspectives of Western scholars, often based on their values and interpretations, which do not necessarily reflect those of Asians. To have a better understanding of Western theories applied in an Asian context, this study took Butler’s tourism area life cycle as an example and compared its research enquiry and application in Western and Asian contexts. This study conducted a two-step analysis, including content analysis and expert reviews. The article makes important theoretical contributions in terms of the generalization of classic models or theories. It should be noted that the same theory or model could be interpreted or applied differently in different cultural contexts

Would Self-determination Intervention Facilitate Leisure Travel Pursuit at Different Challenge Levels? – The Exploration among People with Mobility Impairments

In response to the pressing need to motivationally empower people to persevere in travel pursuit despite challenges, this study proposes the facilitation of self-determined travel motivations as a promising approach. Additionally, the possible mechanism and effectiveness variation of such facilitation across different challenge levels is also proposed and examined through a quasi-experimental design, and analyzed with a new test of moderated mediation based on Hayes’ (2015a) model. By examining people with mobility impairments (PwMI), the results indicate that given significant travel challenges, the travel facilitation should prioritize the cultivation of intrinsic travel motivation over less-autonomous motivations; and foster perceived travel competence more than autonomy or relatedness. Such cross-context exploration extends the Self-determination Theory with a new moderator, challenge levels. The adopted new moderated-mediation analysis has competitive accuracy, efficiency, and robustness for less-controlled real-world tourism experiments. The individual/context-based motivational programs can be derived to maximally encourage travel pursuits despite challenges

Research on the Influence of Emoji Communication on the Perception of Destination Image: The Case of Finland

Emojis refer to popular emoticons that can spread quickly on social networks. This research investigated the impact of emoji design quality, the communication channel, and the familiarity with destinations on tourist perceptions of destination images. The hypotheses were tested by conducting an experiment in China in the context of emoji promotion about Finland. Results show that the design quality of emoji has a significant positive effect on destination images, while the communication channel is not an influential factor. In addition, the familiarity with destinations has an interaction effect with the communication channel, but it has no interaction effect with the design quality of emoji. The findings contribute to the literature on digital marketing and have practical implications for building positive destination image via emojis

Motives to Take a Gamified Trip: An Interpretative Study Using Q Method

Destinations have initiated different gamification practices in the last 10 years. However, there is a lack of understanding of what constitutes gamified trips as well as tourists’ motives to take such a trip. Knowing why tourists would like to engage in a gamified context can help designers create valuable games and offer more memorable experiences. This research sheds light upon the concept and categorization of gamified trips, expands the use of Q method to examine travel motives, and proposes six types of players of gamified trips. Additionally, it provides implications for DMOs on how to apply gamification to attract potential tourists and offer enjoyable tourist experiences for different segment markets

Development of City Destination Attractiveness Index: A China Case

This study aims to develop a comprehensive assessment model of city destination attractiveness index (CDAI), and to validate it by assessing the city destination attractiveness of the selected city destinations in China. The study result will complement the theoretical knowledge body of destination attractiveness evaluation. Besides, by measuring and matching the differences between a destination’s reality and a visitor’s perception, it can work as a decision-making instrument for DMOs, as well as improving tourists’ satisfaction

Examining the Role of Satisfaction and Brand Love in Generating Behavioral Intention

Behavioral intention has attracted much attention from both the industry and academia. As it is equated with customers\u27 conative loyalty, investigating behavioral intention can give implications for tourism businesses on how to raise consumers’ loyalty and thus lead to profitable development. To have a better understanding of the antecedents of behavioral intention, this study conducted 350 surveys and used structural equation modeling to test the relationships among perceived value, satisfaction, brand love, and behavioral intention. This study found that satisfaction and brand love have similar effects on intention to recommend while the effects of brand love on intention to revisit are much greater than that of satisfaction. Additionally, this study confirmed that perceived value can be used as a predictor of satisfaction and brand love