A Comparison of Profiles and Expenditures between Volunteer and Leisure Tourists for the New Orleans Metropolitan Statistical Area

This research compared the expenditure patterns, profiles, and trip characteristics of volunteer and leisure tourists in New Orleans. Survey research methods were used to obtain a sample of voluntourists that was compared to a leisure tourist sample obtained from secondary data. Visitors’ expenditures across six types of spending, demographics, and travel information were collected. Data analysis included eight t-tests that revealed that voluntourists’ spending was lower in five out of six categories, total daily expenditures, and total trip spending. Voluntourists spent more on local transportation but preferred cheaper accommodations and dining, seldom gambled, shopped little at the destination, and rarely visited tourist attractions. Frequency analysis used to profile tourists discovered that voluntourists traveled greater distances to the destination than leisure tourists and came from northern states. While most leisure tourists were aged between 35-64 years, married, and neither students nor retired, most voluntourists were younger, single, and still in college

A Comparison of Profiles and Expenditures between Volunteer and Leisure Tourists for the New Orleans Metropolitan Statistical Area

This research compared the expenditure patterns, profiles, and trip characteristics of volunteer and leisure tourists in New Orleans. Survey research methods were used to obtain a sample of voluntourists that was compared to a leisure tourist sample obtained from secondary data. Visitors’ expenditures across six types of spending, demographics, and travel information were collected. Data analysis included eight t-tests that revealed that voluntourists’ spending was lower in five out of six categories, total daily expenditures, and total trip spending. Voluntourists spent more on local transportation but preferred cheaper accommodations and dining, seldom gambled, shopped little at the destination, and rarely visited tourist attractions. Frequency analysis used to profile tourists discovered that voluntourists traveled greater distances to the destination than leisure tourists and came from northern states. While most leisure tourists were aged between 35-64 years, married, and neither students nor retired, most voluntourists were younger, single, and still in college

Are hotel guests bothered by unlucky floor or room assignments?

Superstitious beliefs can guide individuals’ decision-making and change behavior. Different cultures believe that some numbers are ‘lucky’ and other numbers are ‘unlucky’. This can have significant business implications. There is little academic research into how these numerology superstitions impact the hotel sector. We conduct a quantitative survey among Chinese and Western hotel guests to determine the extent to which these guests are influenced by numerological superstitions in their hotel floor and hotel room numbering. Socio-demographic, psychographic and situational characteristics are used as explanatory variables. The results show that the Chinese were more likely to engage in superstitious behavior when it comes to feeling uncomfortable and seeking a change from an unlucky hotel floor and room number than Western guests. For the Western cohort, internal (demographic and psychographic) determinants of superstitious behavior are more significant, whereas, in the Chinese cohort, both internal and external (situation, or trip-specific) determinants influence superstitious behavior

Tourism and death

Although death is an inevitable part of life, tourism scholarship has not comprehensibly engaged with this concept. Death-related tourism literature has focused disproportionally on places and experiences of dark tourism, leaving a vast array of other dying-related tourism discourses at the periphery. Drawing on anthropological and existential conceptualisations of death, we develop an all-encompassing theoretical framework comprised of four dimensions: Perspective, Intention, Number, and Involvement. Supported by existing studies, mass media reports, and other secondary data, we demonstrate that the interplay between death and tourism is complex and involves a range of events, tourists' behaviors and experiences. The conclusion proposes future research directions at the intersection of death and tourism

What does authenticity and neolocalism mean to craft brewery visitors? Insights from the Midwest and the Great Plains

The global rise in craft beer produced by small and independent brewers has precipitated the development of craft beer tourism. Two concepts, neolocalism and authenticity, have emerged as critical for understanding the craft beer experience. However, established research on these topics, particularly from the consumer perspective, are still quite limited. To fulfill this gap, this study conducted 46 semi-structured in-depth interviews and observations in breweries located in the Midwest and Great Plains regions to explore the meaning of authenticity and neolocalism to craft brewery visitors. Analysis resulted in nine major themes, including 1) beer itself, 2) beer production, 3) brewery accessibility, 4) brewery design, 5) vibes of brewery, 6) brewery services, 7) brewery place identity, 8) community engagement, and 9) local ownership. These findings enhance our conceptual understanding of neolocalism and authenticity from the craft beer visitors\u27 perspective. Potential implications and an agenda for future research are discussed

Роль компонентов микробиоты в модификации иммунного ответа при отдельных вариантах течения хронической обструктивной болезни легких

Background. According to the World Health Organization, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the world. COPD with frequent exacerbations is a most challenging variant of the disease. Currently it is not clear how respiratory microbiota can modify the immune response in this disease.Aim. To establish the role of bacterial oligonucleotides in modification of the immune response in patients with COPD.Materials and мethods. In accordance with the protocol of the study, 10 patients with stable COPD with frequent exacerbations and 10 patients without frequent exacerbations were included. Immature dendritic cells were obtained by culturing the monocyte fraction of the peripheral blood of patients with COPD. The cells were stimulated by addition of bacterial lipopolysaccharide and small oligodeoxynucleotides (CpG-ODN) of A or B classes. Then the immunophenotypical profile of the obtained cells was determined by flow-cytometry with the use of monoclonal antibodies to antigens CD40, CD83, CD86. To determine the antigen-presenting properties, these dendritic cells were cultivated with CD4+, and then the phenotypic profile of the obtained T-lymphocytes was evaluated by using antibodies to CD4, CD25, CD127, and CD45RO.Results. Cultivation of stimulated dendritic cells by СpG-ODN of A class with T-cells in COPD patients without exacerbations leads to an increase of the amount of lymphocytes of CD25+CD45RO phenotype (15% increase after stimulation), in contrast to the group of patients with frequent exacerbations of COPD (p = 0,018). It may indicate inadequate control of persistent inflammation, mediated by CD25+CD45RO pool of cells in the group of COPD patients with frequent exacerbations.Conclusion. This study demonstrated the presence of discoordination of the immune response of a bidirectional nature in patients with COPD with frequent and infrequent exacerbations. По данным Всемирной организации здравоохранения, хроническая обструктивная болезнь легких (ХОБЛ) является одной из ведущих причин заболеваемости и смертности в мире. Неблагоприятным вариантом течения болезни, с точки зрения прогноза, является ХОБЛ с частыми обострениями. В настоящее время недостаточно изучен вклад компонентов микробиоты на изменение иммунного ответа при данной болезни.Цель работы. Установить роль компонентов бактерий – бактериальных олигонуклеотидов в модификации иммунного ответа при ХОБЛ.Материал и методы. В соответствии с протоколом в исследование включены 10 пациентов со стабильной ХОБЛ с частыми обострениями и 10 пациентов без частых обострений. Незрелые дендритные клетки, полученные при культивировании моноцитарной фракции периферической крови больных ХОБЛ, стимулировали путем добавления бактериального липополисахарида, а также малых олигодеоксинуклеотидов (ODN) с неметилированными CpG (CpG-ODN) классов А или В, после чего определяли иммунофенотипический профиль полученных клеток методом проточной цитофлуориметрии с использованием моноклональных антител к антигенам CD40, CD83, CD86. Для определения антиген-представляющих свойств полученных дендритных клеток их сокультивировали с CD4+, после чего оценивали фенотипический профиль полученных Т-лимфоцитов с использованием антител к CD4, CD25, CD127 и CD45RO.Результаты. Сокультивирование стимулированных СpG-ODN класса А-дендритных клеток с Т-клетками у больных ХОБЛ без обострений приводит к увеличению содержания лимфоцитов с фенотипом CD25+CD45RO- на 15% после стимуляции в отличие от группы пациентов с частыми обострениями ХОБЛ (р = 0,018). Это может свидетельствовать о недостаточном контроле над персистирующим воспалением, опосредованным CD25+CD45RO-пулом клеток, в группе больных ХОБЛ с частыми обострениями.Выводы и заключение. Проведенное исследование продемонстрировало наличие дискоординации иммунного ответа разнонаправленного характера при ХОБЛ с частыми и редкими обострениями, что может быть основой развития варианта течения ХОБЛ с частыми обострениями.

Existential Outcomes of Tourism Experience: The Role of Transformative Environment

Under the parameters of the experience economy 3.0, product experiences that have the capacity to transform a consumer in some way are predicted to constitute an ultimate economic offering. Additionally, the idea of meaning making under the experience economy 3.0 attests to the fact that greater material wealth and more consumption do not necessarily imply greater contentment; thus, individuals seek experiences that are personally meaningful. Thus, in the age of full-scale commodification and commercialization, people seek out memorable experiences that are not simply enjoyable but also personally meaningful and conducive to optimal human functioning and self-actualization. Conceptualizing transformation as the changes in tourists’ existential authenticity and anxiety, the first study intended to investigate the effects of tourism experiences on these existential outcomes. Positive effects were found, and perceived meaningfulness was identified as the major influencing factor. Additionally, the type of tourism experience, travel party size, socio-demographic characteristics such as gender, age, educational level as well as hardiness were shown to be powerful factors affecting changes in tourists’ existential authenticity and anxiety. Thus, to facilitate tourism experiences that are conducive to tourists’ self-actualization, tourism experiences must be perceived as personally meaningful. Continuing to use existential philosophy as a theoretical background, the second study aimed to phenomenologically explore the essence of a transformative tourism experience while focusing on the triggering episodes and subsequent long-term changes in tourists’ existential authenticity and anxiety. The resulting structure consisted of nine chronologically ordered themes in which existentially-oriented concerns were prevalent. Remarkably, although triggered during the trip, transformative changes tended to occur in the process of meaning making when participants returned to their usual environment. The triggering episodes did not seem to differ from the ones evoking “peak” experiences as proposed in the literature and led to intense affective, cognitive, and sensory responses in tourists. Yet, a transformative tourism experience is unique in the sense that it is the interpretation of the triggering episodes rather than the triggering episodes themselves led to enduring personal changes. Transformative changes were essentially linked to enhanced existential authenticity yet sustained sensitivity to existential anxiety. Once again, meaning-making, as an essential component of the experience economy 3.0, was shown to be the driving mechanism behind personal transformations in tourism

Tourism & death

Although death is an inevitable part of life, tourism scholarship has not comprehensibly engaged with this concept. Death-related tourism literature has focused disproportionally on places and experiences of dark tourism, leaving a vast array of other dying-related tourism discourses at the periphery. Drawing on anthropological and existential conceptualisations of death, we develop an all-encompassing theoretical framework comprised of four dimensions: Perspective, Intention, Number, and Involvement. Supported by existing studies, mass media reports, and other secondary data, we demonstrate that the interplay between death and tourism is complex and involves a range of events, tourists' behaviors and experiences. The conclusion proposes future research directions at the intersection of death and tourism