How clean is the food we eat from street vendors in Orlando, Florida?

Convenience, low cost, and opportunities to experience unique flavors have led to an increase in street food consumption worldwide. There are approximately 117,000 food trucks in the U.S., representing approximately $857 million in sales annually. Some of these food trucks are unlicensed and some truck vendors are unwilling to comply with requirements for food preparation, permits, parking, and inspection processes. Data were collected from food trucks in Orlando, Florida in order to have a clear understanding of risk factors. Food samples were collected from food trucks and analyzed for microbiological contamination. To investigate possible safety risks, 30 different samples were collected, and contamination levels of the most common bacteria associated with foodborne infections, E. coli and Salmonella spp. The research findings imply that, even under strict food regulations, harmful bacterial contamination is a risk when eating street food from food trucks. Our findings further highlight food safety risks and ineffectiveness of routine food safety inspections of food trucks, even if they pass inspection. Consumers’ vigilance in reporting food safety issues, combined with frequent monitoring, can further help reduce public health risks and increase consumer awareness and well-being

Crisis Management in Tourist Destinations

Whether natural or caused by people, disasters have been and continue to be a part of life that communities must deal with. Tourism destinations are especially vulnerable to disaster occurrences due to their economic dependence on visitors and the need to maintain a positive image of attractiveness and safety for continued success. The past decade has witnessed numerous natural disasters in tourist destinations around the world; therefore, community leaders, local governments, and major industries need to be prepared for the worst. The 1989 Hurricane Hugo experience in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina was managed by a local non-profit organization comprised of volunteer community and industry leaders. The Hugo experience demonstrated the need to have a plan of action to follow after disaster occurrences. Telephone interviews were conducted with tourism leaders around the country and written inquiries were made to locate a tourism crisis management plan. The lack of information led to the development of the Myrtle Beach Tourism Crisis Management Manual, to assist the travel and tourism industry respond to and manage natural disasters in an effective manner

The Emergence of Green Drive Tourism: A Comparative Study of Existing Drive Tourism Routes

This study evaluates the sustainability of a number of existing drive-tourism routes and determines how likely each are to impact on future changes to drive tourism, drive tourism destinations and the drive tourist. Exploratory in nature, the study builds upon an existing framework by Fjelstul and Fyall (2015) with usage of a qualitative approach to interpret and compare data gleaned from a content analysis of various web sites connected to notable drive tourism routes across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe, and Australia/New Zealand. The study concludes that green infrastructure is beginning to surface as a reality rather than an utopian ideal with a number of destinations beginning to recognize the growing number of fully-electric vehicles on the road and the infrastructure necessary to support them

Simulation Modeling of Occupational Health of Tourism and Hospitality Workers

Tourism and hospitality research has utilized mostly traditional approaches to understand and explain observed phenomena. Complexity science offers great potential for studying the complex dynamical system of tourism and hospitality with greater effectiveness. The accelerating pace of technological advances, destabilization of societies, and increasing levels of uncertainty have fueled the emergence of chaos and complexity perspectives. Social scientists are increasingly viewing the conceptual and statistical assumptions underlying the linear paradigm as being seriously flawed and limiting our ability to explain social phenomena. Innovative complex-systems approaches grounded in complex adaptive systems (CAS) theoretical, methodological, and analytical perspectives have potential to lead to greater understanding of various phenomena. The foregoing methods and tools will be discussed in the context of occupational health of Hispanic immigrant hospitality sector workers

Tourism, Terrorism and Political Instability

Concepts of terrorism, political turmoil, and war appear unrelated to tourism. Closer examination of their points of convergence and impacts on tourism reveals otherwise. This paper examines literature focusing on the relationships between these phenomena. Research themes which emerge from available studies include impacts of terrorism and political instability on tourist demand, motives of terrorists in targeting tourists, using tourism as a political tool, the effects of political violence on destination image, crisis management, and recovery marketing efforts. The intent of this article is to synthesize research on these relationships, to present a comprehensive index of relevant publications, and to suggest topics for future research

Examining the Sources of Differential Support for Tourism Industry in Two Ghanaian Cities

The current article examines residents’ support for tourism in the Central Region of Ghana in Africa using social exchange theory as the guiding framework. Using pooled data from the two Ghanaian communities of Cape Coast and Elmina, this article tested a research hypothesis that support for tourism varies between the two Ghanaian communities due to their differing socioeconomic bases. Findings of this study suggest differences in the levels of support for tourism (the hospitality industry and tourism infrastructure/attractions) among the residents of the two Ghanaian communities. Results of regression analyses suggest that support for the hospitality industry and support for the infrastructure and tourism attraction development were influenced by partially different reasons in both communities. The higher support for tourism in Cape Coast might be attributable to its status as the region’s capital. Cape Coast, on the other hand, has a relatively more diversified economy including entities such as government offices, a university, several leading secondary schools, retail activities, and hotels; some of this diversification may be viewed as positive and directly attributed to the tourism development in the town

Do Destination Images Really Matter? Predicting Destination Choices of Student Travelers

The purpose of the study was to identify images that are likely predictors of destination choices of college students considering travelling to Turkey in a probabilistic model when two measurements of the dependent variable were involved. Five hundred surveys were distributed to geographically dispersed universities across the USA. Based on a response rate of 65.4 per cent, the study results indicated that travellers can compartmentalise their mental pictures and evaluate each image component according to its importance in choice decisions. Moreover, familiarity with the destination can be considered as a moderator variable in decision-making models. Implications for destination marketing and management are discussed in light of the study findings

Crisis Management for Event Tourism

Tourism, festivals, and special events are usually not considered in conjunction with disasters or disruptive events. As the notions of tourism, festivals and other special events reflect enjoyment and relaxation, whereas disasters bring to mind distress, fear, and even panic. Nevertheless, it must be remembered that whether natural or caused by man, disaster occurrences have been and continue to be a part of life that we must deal with. While each special event has different characteristics, they all share a vulnerability to emergency situations. Because special events bring large numbers of people together, they reflect an increased need for special planning for the unexpected

Exploring the Touristic Image of Jordan

Destination image has received significant attention in recent Western travel literature. However, developing and lesser-developed countries have less research attention devoted to them despite the fact image is a key factor in determining travel decisions. This study explored current visitor images of a Middle Eastern country, Jordan. On-site interviews with tourists indicated a fairly positive image of Jordan, with improvements possible in service related areas. Marketing and research implications are suggested

Make No Enemies: The Tourist Contending With The Terrorist

This article examines the relationship between terrorism and tourism. Although the travel and tourism industry and government have done much to control it, terrorism remains a powerful form of communication which utilizes the tourist to convey messages. Despite their understandable expectations of government and industry action against terrorism, potential tourists must assess risk on their own and take action to protect themselves as they travel and recreate. An analogy may be drawn to touristic medicine: just as the first line of defense in health care is the tourist, so the first line of defense against terrorism lies with the tourist