Resource commitment in destination management: The case of Abingdon, Virginia

In this paper, the concepts of economic cycles and tourism area life cycle (Butler, 1980, 2004) are combined to study the impact of institutional support for a destination management, development and rejuvenation strategy. Using case-based qualitative methodology and focus group interviews with key informants like town development officials, tourism directors and other salient supply side stakeholders, like recreation products providers and local theater representatives, the effect of cooperation among local institutions is examined for Abingdon, a small historic town located in the southwestern part of the state of Virginia, USA. In addition, secondary sources like documents related to comprehensive planning are studied to understand demand and supply side systems and future competitive advantage investment and resource commitment for town and tourism development. Findings indicate that collaborative and concerted efforts among local institutions can mitigate some of the effects of economic downturn cycles. Implications of cooperation and coordination efforts by development agencies are discussed and suggestions for tourism development in small towns are offered

An Examination of Effects of Self-Concept (SC), Destination Personality (DP), and SC-DP Congruence on Tourist Behavior

Tourism literature has explored some critical concepts such as motivation, image, expectations and the like. However, such constructs as self-concept, destination personality, and self- congruence, have received little attention. This paper makes an effort to address these concepts by proposing and empirically testing a theoretical model that attempts to investigate the structural relationships between destination personality (DP), self-concept (SC), congruence between self-concept and destination personality (SC-DP congruence) and tourist behavior. The findings suggest significant influences of these concepts on tourist behavior. An understanding of what influences tourist behavior can aid in designing and implementing appropriate marketing programs

USING ECONOMIC SENTIMENT IN DESTINATION DEMAND MANAGEMENT

As part of competitive marketing strategies, tourism demand modeling plays an important role in destination management and marketing. This study incorporated the concept of Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) into tourism demand studies along with more traditional variables such as interest rate, relative price, and relative exchange rate. The study utilized ARIMA, and ARDL Bound Test approach to cointegration for the long and short-run elasticities using 15 tourist generating countries from the members of EU to Turkey. The study concludes that ESI is an effective tool and good indicator to gauge and monitor tourism demand

The Role of Theme Parks in Tourism

Although the theme park has been a major tourism destination in the United States, little research has been done in this industry. The growing economic significance and competition of the theme park industry ensure that the study of theme parks will emerge as a more popular research topic in the years to come. The authors review related articles and identify potential research topics in the theme park industry

Reflections of the Mature Market and What It Says to the Travel Industry

This article explores the trend of privatization among public, quasi-public, and private institutions. The primary factor that must be resolved is whether a cooperative or a competitive approach is used. Morgan\u27s model of privatization, with greater utilization of the private non-profit sector, coupled with voluntary involvement of dedicated individuals, seems to hold the most promise

Is this about Feeling? The Interplay of Emotional Wellbeing, Solidarity and Residents’ Attitude.

Research has neglected to explore the role that residents’ feelings toward tourists play in influencing residents’ emotional wellbeing and residents’ attitude about tourism. This study proposes a theoretical model integrating emotional solidarity, emotional wellbeing and residents’ attitude. In order to test the proposed model, a survey of residents in China was undertaken. Structural equation modeling and mediation analysis were applied to assess the relationships involving residents’ emotional solidarity with tourists, emotional wellbeing, and residents’ attitude. The three dimensions of emotional solidarity were considered in the study: 1) welcoming nature, 2) sympathetic understanding, and 3) emotional closeness. Results indicate that welcoming nature, sympathetic understanding and emotional closeness directly influence residents’ attitude and residents’ emotional wellbeing. In addition, the relationships involving residents’ welcoming nature, sympathetic understanding and emotional closeness with tourists and residents’ attitude were all mediated by emotional wellbeing. Theoretical and practical implications as well as future research opportunities are provided

AN EXAMINATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN QUALITY OF TOURISM EXPERIENCE AND PERCEIVED DESTINATION COMPETITIVENESS: THE TOURISTS: PERSPECTIVE

Destination competitiveness has been seen as a critical issue in today’s increasingly challenging tourism market. The study develops a destination competitiveness model based on tourists’ perception and attempted to investigate how different phases of tourism/vacation experience affect tourists’ perception of the destination competitiveness. The proposed theoretical model addresses the tourism experience from the chronological and temporal aspects, i.e., tourist pre-trip planning experience, en-route experience, on-site experience, and after-trip reflection. Tourist involvement is proposed to have a moderating effect on the relationship between tourism experience dimensions and destination competitive domains. The results indicate that tourists’ perception of destination competitiveness is positively influenced by the quality of tourism experience in terms of all phases (pre-trip planning, enroute experience, on-site instrumental experience, on-site expressive experience, and aftertrip reflection). Findings also indicate that tourist involvement has a moderating effect on the relationship between tourist pre-trip planning experience, en-route experience, on-site expressive experience, and perceived destination competitiveness

THE PERCEIVED IMPACT OF NUCLEAR PLANT (NP) ON A TOURISM DESTINATION: A CASE OF MERSIN

This study is designed to examine the perception of residents, including second home owners of the province of Mersin about their general and tourism specific attitudes of the proposed nuclear power plant (NPP) location and assess the degree to which if there would be variations of perceptions within the local population about the construction of NPP. The study revealed that elder and more educated individuals have stronger opposition attitudes about the construction of the proposed NPP. However, the overall result indicates a matter of degrees of opposition that may need to be managed or mitigated should the project is implemented

An Application of Importance-performance Analysis to a Ski Resort: A Case Study in North Carolina

Skiing is one of the most popular winter outdoor recreation activities in the United States. The objective of this case study is to identify and evaluate the attributes (features and services) of a ski resort. By identifying which attributes and services the ski market considers important together with how well the ski area provides these attributes and services, ski area promoters can determine what the appropriate marketing message and management strategy should be. The procedure used is known as Importance-Performance Analysis. Basically, this procedure involves asking skiers to rate the importance and performance of identified ski resort attributes. Results are then graphically displayed on a two-dimensional action grid that delineates weaknesses and strengths of the ski area in question. Several marketing and management implications are discussed

Resort Motivations for Different Family Life Cycle Stages

Motivational differences for resort vacation travel among family life cycle stages have not been addressed in travel research. However, from a marketing standpoint, segmenting the resort market into family life cycle groups can be reasonably important. Linking an identified group of motivations with these stages is the purpose of this article. Descriptive analysis, factor analysis, and analysis of variance are used to evaluate the data. Twenty motivations are reduced into five motivation factors that coincide with established travel motivations or needs. The importance of family relationship, health and social, and fun and entertainment motivations does differ among respondents single or married, with or without children. The importance of relaxation and escape and novelty, education and prestige motivations does not differ across family life cycles. A target market with greatest potential is identified as married couples without children, the largest current family life cycle grouping of resort vacationers