Misunderstanding Generation Y: Risks for tourism managers

Generation Y has become more than simply a label used to describe people born between 1980 and 1994, it has become a symbol of a proposed new culture said to be unlike any before it, with a unique set of values, skills and behaviors that transcend geography and ethnicity. The consequences of this emerging culture are only just beginning to be discussed in higher education as these individuals become the core group of college students and in human relations as they enter the workforce. But Generation Y also represents a significant market for tourist operations. So are the claims made about this group true? And what are the implications of these claims for tourism managers? Both longitudinal and cross-sectional research is needed to reduce the risks that tourism managers face in dealing with this new generational cohort. This paper demonstrates the value of such research by describing a specific study that utilised time series data to examine the emergence of Generation Y in a major tourist destination in Australia, the Great Barrier Reef. The overall pattern of results suggested that the use of generational cohorts as a market segmentation tool was valid and that Generation Y was indeed emerging as a group of travellers with a unique pattern of characteristics, motivations and expectations. The data in the study showed that emerging youth markets are not like those in the past and this has implications for the provision, marketing and sustainability of current tourism activities

Contrasting high-tech and high touch experiences in tourist attractions

The increasing use of a variety of new and developing technologies presents a number of challenges and opportunities for both tourism management and research. One area that has been given little research attention is the role of technology in creating and enhancing tourist experiences. This paper reports on a study of this aspect of tourism and technology which had the dual aims of providing practical advice for the design of technology-based experiences at tourist attractions, and of exploring the potential role of mindfulness as a construct to explain and predict tourist behaviour. The study involved a grounded theory analysis of positive critical incidents related to memorable technology and non technology based experiences. The results suggested that mindfulness was a useful explanatory construct for both types of tourist experiences, although the pathways to mindfulness differed between the technology and non technology-based options. For the technology-based examples mindfulness appeared to be based on the ability of the attraction to offer new and multiple perspectives on a topic, the stimulation of multiple senses and ability of the technology to create a complete illusion. For the non-technology based examples mindfulness was associated with living things, authenticity and closeness. In both cases the concept of immersion appears to be important, although that perception is supported by different characteristics. Implications are drawn for both tourist attraction design and the use of mindfulness in tourism research

Contrasting online and onsite sampling methods: Results of visitor responses to a destination survey

The spectacular growth and adoption of the Internet has created a myriad of opportunities in the field of marketing. These opportunities include not only promotion and customer relationship management but also market research. Tourism academics have been slow in following tourism operators and consultants in using the Internet as a research tool. This reluctance is partly due to\ud concerns about the reliability and validity of Internet samples. This paper contrasts an onsite sampling method with a self-selected online sample. Both samples responded to the same questions about a popular tourist destination in Australia. The findings indicate significant\ud differences between the onsite and online samples. The online sample had significantly more female respondents. There were also major differences in travel motives, perceptions of destination attributes and information sources used. The online survey appeared to be affected\ud quite substantially by coverage error and non-response bias. This suggests that researchers and tourism operators should be cautious about the temptation to use self-selected online surveys instead of onsite surveys, particularly for destination or location specific studies

Do destination brands really have a personality? A comparison of two coastal tourism destinations in Australia

According to Morgan et al (2003), the need for destinations to portray a unique identity is more critical than ever yet much of destination advertising remains blue seas, cloudless skies and endless golden beaches with less than memorable tag lines. They also emphasise that, in marketing terms, brands are meant to differentiate by inciting belief, evoking emotions and prompting behaviours, and that brands have social, emotional and identity value to the users. According to Ekinci (2003), the words 'brand', 'branding' and 'destination image' have appeared in many academic references, with no apparent effort made to distinguish between destination image and destination branding. As a result he proposes a model which states that the process of destination branding begins when the evaluation of destination image includes a strong emotional attachment. Accordingly, only branded destinations are purported to be able establish an instant emotional link with their customers. He elaborates that successful destination branding involves establishing a mutual relationship between destinations and tourists by satisfying tourists' emotional and basic needs. In establishing this link between destination image and consumer self-image an important factor is Brand Personality - emphasising the human side of the brand image

Imagine being off-the-grid: Millennials' Perceptions of Digital-Free Travel

The blurred boundaries between home and away facilitated by the ubiquitous connectivity have resulted in restlessness in private life, even on holiday. Disconnecting from technology on holiday could potentially contribute to travellers’ psychological sustainability. This article aims to theorise the perceptions of millennials towards digital-free travel (DFT). We interviewed 17 millennials and applied the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) qualitatively to uncover deep insights into their perceptions. Millennials in the research believe that DFT is beneficial for their well-being, but also have concerns regarding social expectations, technology dependence and environmental support. This article firstly contributes towards the psychological sustainability from the perspective of digital well-being in tourism. Second, the qualitative use of UTAUT in a technology disconnection setting is novel. Finally, the study contributes to the empirical understanding of DFT from the aspect of millennials’ perceptions. The study proposes that mental “away” should be aligned with physical “away” by reducing technology use to achieve psychological sustainability on holiday

Consumer behaviour in tourism: Concepts, influences and opportunities

Although consumer behaviour (CB) is one of the most researched areas in the field of tourism, few extensive reviews of the body of knowledge in this area exist. This review article examines what we argue are the key concepts, external influences and opportune research contexts in contemporary tourism CB research. Using a narrative review, we examine the CB literature published in three major tourism journals from 2000 to 2012. Of 519 articles identified and reviewed, 191 are included in this article. We examine the development of and scope for future research on nine key concepts, including decision-making, values, motivations, self-concept and personality, expectations, attitudes, perceptions, satisfaction, trust and loyalty. We then examine three important external influences on tourism behaviour, technology, Generation Y and the rise in concern over ethical consumption. Finally, we identify and discuss five research contexts that represent major areas for future scholarship: group and joint decision-making, under-researched segments, cross-cultural issues in emerging markets, emotions and consumer misbehaviour. Our examination of key research gaps is concluded by arguing that the hedonic and affective aspects of CB research in tourism must be brought to bear on the wider CB and marketing literature

An exploratory analysis of planning characteristics in Australian visitor attractions

This paper provides an exploratory analysis of the planning practices of 408 Australian attraction operators. The results indicate that attraction managers can be divided into four categories: those that do not engage in any formal planning, those that adopt a short-term planning approach, those that develop long-term plans, and those that use both short-term and long-term planning approaches. An evaluation of the sophistication of attraction planning showed a bipolar distribution. Attraction managers favored a planning horizon of three or five years, and were inclined to involve their employees in the planning process. Managers relied strongly on their own research and tourism industry intelligence when formulating business plans. The content of plans tended to focus on operational activities, financial planning and marketing. The study provides a benchmark for the comparison of attraction planning efforts in various contexts. © 2006 Asia Pacific Tourism Association

Smart technologies for personalized experiences: a case study in the hospitality domain

Recent advances in the field of technology have led to the emergence of innovative technological smart solutions providing unprecedented opportunities for application in the tourism and hospitality industry.With intensified competition in the tourism market place, it has become paramount for businesses to explore the potential of technologies, not only to optimize existing processes but facilitate the creation of more meaningful and personalized services and experiences. This study aims to bridge the current knowledge gap between smart technologies and experience personalization to understand how smart mobile technologies can facilitate personalized experiences in the context of the hospitality industry. By adopting a qualitative case study approach, this paper makes a two-fold contribution; it a) identifies the requirements of smart technologies for experience creation, including information aggregation, ubiquitous mobile connectedness and real time synchronization and b) highlights how smart technology integration can lead to two distinct levels of personalized tourism experiences. The paper concludes with the development of a model depicting the dynamic process of experience personalization and a discussion of the strategic implications for tourism and hospitality management and research

Exploring the flexible learning preferences of business and commerce students using a learner segmentation approach

Flexible learning is emerging as a new paradigm for responding to the demographic, economic, political and technological changes confronting the higher education sector in Australia. Various studies have reported on specific flexible learning approaches and techniques, but none have examined student preferences for a variety of techniques. The aim of this study is to use the flexible learning preferences of business students at a regional Australian university as a basis for identifying discrete and meaningful learner segments. The findings indicate that students can be segmented into five discrete segments, each with clearly differentiated flexible learning preferences. Further analysis indicates that the balance between employment and study account for some of the differences between segments