Consuming post-disaster destinations: The case of Sichuan, China

Addressing the call for a better understanding of tourist behavior in relation to post-disaster destinations, this study explores the motivations and intentions of potential domestic tourists (from non-hit areas) to visit Sichuan, China in the aftermath of an earthquake. Drawing on dark tourism theories, this study offers a more comprehensive insight into the consumption of post-disaster destinations, aiming to capture the impact of the changes to the destination’s attributes on tourist behavior. The findings move beyond the common approach to tourism recovery, which solely focuses on reviving the traditional ‘‘non-dark’’ products. This study reveals the importance of newly formed dark attributes that emerge from the disaster as another means to destination recovery, reflected in the emergence of new tourist segments

Emergency Management for Disasters in Malaysian Hotel Industry

This paper aims to identify major emergencies that have the potential to place Malaysian hotels in emergency and disaster situations; investigate how hotels were prepared for emergencies, how they manage and overcome emergencies when occurred; and limitations and factors influencing successful emergency planning and adoption emergency management in Malaysian hotels. Face-to-face interview with managers from three, four and five star hotels from different backgrounds: local; regional; and International in Kuala Lumpur, Subang, and Putrajaya are undertaken. The result revealed that Malaysian hotels are exposed to a wide range of natural and man-made disasters. Malaysian hotels lack proactive emergency planning and a lot of constraints which impede successful emergency planning for disasters in the hotel industry in Malaysia, with emphasizing on the relevant authority’s role to demonstrate emergency management to hotels convincing them to adopt such practices, so they can be able to cope with emergencies effectively

Weekend visitors' views and perceptions at an urban national forest park of Cyprus during summertime

Urban national forest parks provide nature preservation and recreational opportunities for socio-economically disadvantaged communities as well as tourists. We empirically examine the preferences and satisfaction of visitors in the Athalassa National Forest Park, which is located in a peri-urban area in the capital city of Cyprus. This study examines visitors' evaluation of the Athalassa in 600 face-to-face interviews during summertime weekends. A two-step cluster analysis identified two distinct clusters of visitors based on the three dimensions of satisfaction that resulted from the factor analysis and the characteristics of the visit. The dual role of the urban forest National Park was highlighted. Both local and tourist visitors were satisfied and appreciative of the setting and support services, although only the local and higher income visitors were willing to pay an entrance fee, whereas tourists avoided expressing their opinion. Management implications: This study highlighted a number of deficiencies and produced information that could be used to integrate the management decision-making process and assist in defining major lines of action for more inclusive use of urban national forest parks. The results revealed that the visitors were overall satisfied with the park, but the benefits promoted from this important green infrastructure were not evenly distributed across different sections of society with older age groups and those of lower socio-economic status were not accessing the park to the same extent as other groups, thus there is some room for improvement. However, in a time of economic crisis, the management of the park must be based on a combination of satisfying the two clusters and on improving efforts in different infrastructures.Foundation for Science and Technology [UID/SOC/04020/2013]COST Action [FP1204

News framing effects on destination risk perception

News coverage of hazards is often commented to be of critical importance to individuals' perceived risk associated with tourist destinations. Despite the significance of this issue to the global tourism industry, the link between portrayals of hazards and audience reception is rarely studied in this context. This study adopted the framing theory to evaluate media effect on tourists' perceived risk of portrayals of terrorism and political instability incidents. This involved a survey-embedded experiment which manipulated potential elements of a news report concerning a hazard. The content of fictitious articles used in the experiment was created on the basis of extant risk perception theories. Results revealed that the use of risk amplifying frame and risk attenuating frame result in higher and lower ratings of risk respectively. Moreover, tourist psychographic characteristics were found to moderate the influence of news frames on perceived risk. Implications for tourism destination managers and marketers were discussed

The behaviour of repeat visitors to museums: Review and empirical findings

This study presents a theoretical and operational framework for analysing repeat visit to museums. Starting from the literature on repeat visit in tourism, the specificities of these cultural attractions are made explicit through a review of theoretical and applied works. Consistently with previous contributors, the paper suggests that the analysis of actual past behaviours has to be preferred to the one of attitudes. The application of proper econometric models is also remarked in order to put into account individual profiles. Information coming from three techniques is then used in an integrated way in order to provide a more comprehensive view of the phenomenon. Evidence from an ad hoc survey suggests the necessity to give a greater attention to perceived cultural value during the visit, promoting cultural events during the week and addressed to children, and taking care of those visitors that come from far places also through an integrated tourist supply. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

Impacts of crises and communication media on place image: A case study of Chilas, Pakistan

Com-media can become part of the anthropogenic crises that some tourist destinations face. The positive practices of communication media are well rehearsed in social science research: however, the destructive impacts of communication media, specifically in destinations in crisis in less-developed countries, is less clear. This paper considers the role of communication media for tourism development in a remote area: Chilas, in the north of Pakistan. Chilas has many features – a dynamic historical, cultural and environmental background consisting, for example, of a unique landscape and ancient rock carvings – that make it an attractive tourist destination but it has yet to reach its full potential in this respect. The area has suffered from a number of natural and anthropogenic crises with many of the latter being on-going. This paper, which usies Chilas as an example, explores some of the issues with respect to the marketing of a destination that is in crisis, including, for example, the region being categorised as a seismic zone, suffering from such natural occurrences as landslides, poor infrastructure, including negligible emergency services and poor quality roads, and issues relating to terrorism. Comparisons are made with the neighbouring destinations of Gilgit, Chitral and the Hunza Valley, and the more positive media representations they receive. It will also consider the reasons why such geographically close areas should fare so differently in terms of marketing. The paper then goes on to make recommendations as to how to develop the image of a destination under crises while safeguarding the security of the destination, tourists and the local community

Progress and prospects for event tourism research

This paper examines event tourism as a field of study and area of professional practice updating the previous review article published in 2008. In this substantially extended review, a deeper analysis of the field’s evolution and development is presented, charting the growth of the literature, focusing both chronologically and thematically. A framework for understanding and creating knowledge about events and tourism is presented, forming the basis which signposts established research themes and concepts and outlines future directions for research. In addition, the review article focuses on constraining and propelling forces, ontological advances, contributions from key journals, and emerging themes and issues. It also presents a roadmap for research activity in event tourism

Up in smoke? The impact of smog on risk perception and satisfaction of international tourists in Beijing

The topic of concern of this research is smog, and the destination of interest is Beijing, China. The present study investigated the attitudes and behaviours of international on‐site tourists to the worrying issue of smog in China's capital. The work is embedded in previous theoretical and conceptual studies of risk and hazard perception. Social and natural disasters affecting tourism are widely reported in various media formats (Kozak et al., 2007). Tourism research concerning such disasters has become an important concern of tourism analysis (Reisinger & Mavondo, 2005; Tan & Tang, 2013). Previous studies have tended to explore attitudinal and behavioural patterns of people who plan to travel, thus concentrating on their decision‐making processes. However, tourists' risk perception and in turn their moderating strategies may change according to different stages across the travel consumption sequence (Choi et al., 2012). Therefore, it is necessary to investigate tourists' risk perception in different travel stages including pre‐travel decision making, on‐site reactions and post‐trip recollections (Mansfeld, 2006). By focusing on smog – a relatively persistent and somewhat predictable form of hazard – and accessing tourists' on‐site views, the present study may illuminate the existing studies of tourist risk perception. In the past two years, dangerous smog conditions have been experienced in most cities in China. Smog is a frequently visible, sometimes literally tangible, generic term for air pollution deriving from multiple human activities including but not limited to the burning of fossil fuels and industrial processes (Watts, 2010). The National Disaster Relief Department of China has listed smog as a natural disaster due to the rising numbers of deaths attributed directly to severe incidents of the problem. Further, the overall harmful effects of smog on human health justify public concern and research interest (Bickerstaff & Walker, 1999; Semenza et al., 2008). According to Tasci and Boylu (2010), disasters (and smog can now be included in the list of disasters) exert immediate and continuing effects on tourist choices through affecting a destination's image. Such effects are dramatically enhanced when the topic of concern is frequently reported in mass media. The available statistical data show declines in inbound and domestic tourists visiting the worst smog‐affected areas in China. Beijing is the Chinese city with perhaps the most serious and widely publicized smog conditions. It is also one of China's most popular tourist destinations. The city and its region have been one of the hardest‐hit locations in terms of the frequency of smog and the severity of fine particle matter in the atmosphere. However, there has been very limited research directly exploring the impact of smog on tourists. Tourists' decision‐making, in terms of choosing this destination, and their travel experiences in smog‐affected cities such as Beijing have not been considered. It is generally accepted that understanding tourists' concerns, including their anxiety about health and safety issues, are of paramount importance to travel destinations (Kozak et al., 2007; Law, 2006). Building on these concerns, this research analysed the views of international tourists travelling to Beijing. The present research has three broad objectives: 1. To explore international tourists' overall and specific concerns with the issue of smog in Beijing; 2. To examine whether there are associations among key tourist attitudes and perceptions including smog concern, risk perception, tourist satisfaction and intention to return to Beijing. 3. To consider whether the relationships found for risk in other content areas also exist for smog. In meeting these objectives, the work seeks to provide conceptual linkages and explore theoretical connections among key influential variables rather than simply describing tourists' concern about smog. Additionally, the marketing and management consequences of this study and allied research are portrayed