Virtual Tourism Destination Image: Glocal identities constructed, perceived and experienced

Het opdoemend netwerk van mondiale hubs en stromen van geld, media, technologie en migratie, hebben geleid tot een algemene bewustwording rond oplopende spanningen tussen mondiale en locale identiteiten en imago’s. Dubai, het onderzoeksdecor van dit proefschrift, is een goed voorbeeld. Met internet en mobiele technologie bestaat het creëren van bestemmingsimago’s niet langer uit een eenzijdig pushproces van massacommunicatie. Steeds belangrijker worden dynamische interactieve processen van reflecteren, selecteren, debatteren en ervaren. Dit proefschrift construeert daarom een dynamisch toeristisch bestemmingsimago-ontwikkelingsmodel waarbij de driehoeksverhouding tussen plaatsidentiteit, geprojecteerd imago en gepercipieerd imago leidt tot een spanningsveld, welke wordt kortgesloten tijdens de reisbeleving, wanneer host (aanbod) en gast (vraag) elkaar ontmoeten. Op dat moment kunnen drie kloven in het model een negatief effect hebben op de klanttevredenheid, hetgeen in dit proefschrift empirisch wordt onderzocht door het meten van geprojecteerd en gepercipieerd imago. Dit wordt bewerkstelligd door een innovatieve methodologie gebaseerd op geautomatiseerde inhoudsanalyse. Het geprojecteerd imago is vestgesteld door middel van inhoudsanalyse op 20 in Dubai gevestigde toeristische websites, terwijl gepercipieerd imago is gemeten door middel van inhoudsanalyse op 1.100 online reacties op een kwalitatief imago-onderzoek. De resultaten tonen aan dat men in Dubai de drie kloven dient te overbruggen, aangezien de snelle ontwikkeling van Dubai als een mondiale hub soms voorbij gaat aan de verankering in de sterke lokale identiteit en het gevestigd imago. Een theoretische oplossing voor het overbruggen van de kloven wordt besproken en conceptueel toegepast in het concluderend hoofdstuk. Het is gebaseerd op de literatuur rond stedelijke of regionale merkontwikkeling en staaft de algemene bruikbaarheid van het model en de onderzoeksmethodologie zoals die in dit proefschrift ontwikkeld werden.Robert Govers, who was born on May 16, 1968 in The Hague, The Netherlands, is currently serving as research coordinator at the Flemish Center for Tourism Policy Studies of the University of Leuven, Belgium. Prior to this he worked in Dubai as a senior lecturer in tourism and marketing for four years, including two years at the Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management. Robert graduated with a Master’ s degree in Marketing from the Rotterdam School of Management, but also holds a Bachelor’ s degree in Information Management. Robert started his teaching career as a visiting lecturer at the Witwatersrand Technikon Johannesburg (RSA). After that he was a Research Associate for the Centre for Tourism Management at the Rotterdam School of Management. With Prof. dr. Frank M. Go, Robert is the author of Entrepreneurship in Tourism, a paperback published in Dutch. He also co-authored several journal articles and conference papers in the field of tourism, hospitality and quality management, e-commerce in tourism and tourism research and marketing. As a project manager, Robert has been involved in many consultancy projects for reputable organisations such as IATA, the European Commission, the Flemish Government and various Dutch ministries and tourism promotion boards.The emerging network of global hubs and flows of finance, media, technology and migration has raised awareness regarding the tensions between global and local identities and images. Dubai, as the central research background for this dissertation, is a good case in point. With internet and mobile technology, creating destination image is no longer a one-way ‘push’ process of mass communication, but rather a dynamic one of selecting, reflecting, sharing, and experiencing. This dissertation therefore constructs a dynamic tourism destination image formation model, which identifies a triadic tension between place identity, its projection and the perceived image. This tension is short circuited during the travel experience, when host (supply) meets guest (demand). At this instance, three potential gaps could negatively affect the level of satisfaction experienced in the host – guest encounter. The empirical research focuses on measuring projected and perceived images in order to test the way in which the gaps can be assessed. This is accomplished through an innovative methodology based on computerised content analysis. The projected image is measured through a content analysis of 20 Dubai based websites while the perceived images are gauged by content analysing 1.100 online responses to a qualitative image survey. The results indicate that for Dubai, the three gaps need bridging as there is a clear tension between its rapid development as a global hub and its strong local identity and image. A theoretical solution for bridging the gaps is discussed and conceptually applied in the concluding chapter. It is based on the destination branding literature and establishes the general usefulness of the model and its research methodology

Projected Destination Images on African Websites: Upgrading Branding Opportunities in the Global Tourism Value Chain

This paper explores whether websites that offer a global audience virtual access to watering holes in game parks afford African nations opportunities to diminish their international isolation as tourism destinations. The present analysis examines a sample of almost 450 tourism websites representing Rwanda, Uganda and Mozambique. Two aspects are studied in particular: the websites’ technical and social infrastructures, including website ownership and networks, and website content, i.e. the projected destination image and opportunities to bridge the main supplier-consumer gaps in the global tourism value chain. The findings indicate that there is substantial foreign involvement in Africa’s online tourism infrastructure; furthermore, that the current projected images tend to reproduce foreign stereotypes. It concludes that the potential for upgrading branding capabilities could be sourced in indigenous African cultural attributes, both high and low culture, and in contexts of the past and the contemporary

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

The concept of transport capacity in geomorphology

The notion of sediment-transport capacity has been engrained in geomorphological and related literature for over 50 years, although its earliest roots date back explicitly to Gilbert in fluvial geomorphology in the 1870s and implicitly to eighteenth to nineteenth century developments in engineering. Despite cross fertilization between different process domains, there seem to have been independent inventions of the idea in aeolian geomorphology by Bagnold in the 1930s and in hillslope studies by Ellison in the 1940s. Here we review the invention and development of the idea of transport capacity in the fluvial, aeolian, coastal, hillslope, débris flow, and glacial process domains. As these various developments have occurred, different definitions have been used, which makes it both a difficult concept to test, and one that may lead to poor communications between those working in different domains of geomorphology. We argue that the original relation between the power of a flow and its ability to transport sediment can be challenged for three reasons. First, as sediment becomes entrained in a flow, the nature of the flow changes and so it is unreasonable to link the capacity of the water or wind only to the ability of the fluid to move sediment. Secondly, environmental sediment transport is complicated, and the range of processes involved in most movements means that simple relationships are unlikely to hold, not least because the movement of sediment often changes the substrate, which in turn affects the flow conditions. Thirdly, the inherently stochastic nature of sediment transport means that any capacity relationships do not scale either in time or in space. Consequently, new theories of sediment transport are needed to improve understanding and prediction and to guide measurement and management of all geomorphic systems

Promoting tourism destination image

This article examines the role of tourism promotion as a component of destination image formation. It reports the findings of a study in which 1,100 respondents from around the globe described their previsit perceived image of seven sample destinations, as well as the information sources they used. The findings suggest that tourism promotion does not have a major impact upon the perceptions of travelers and that other sources of information have a much greater bearing on the formation of destination image. As a result, tourism authorities need to understand that successful tourism promotion is dependent on a broad range of external influences. At the same time, the impact of marketing communication decisions on measurables such as revenue, market share, and costs must be carefully assessed

Virtual destination image: a new measurement approach

This study utilized enabling internet and computerized content analysis technologies to measure destination image from a phenomenographic post-positivist perspective. In an online survey, respondents were asked to describe their image of one of seven case study destinations that they had never visited before, in a narrative format. The large amount of qualitative data was content analyzed using artificial neural network software. The results produce a vivid three-dimensional picture of the differences and commonalities among the images of selected destinations. It is concluded that an interactive narrative approach presents an alternative measurement technique that can contribute significantly to future image research

The role of activated coagulation factor XII in overall clot stability and fibrinolysis

Activated coagulation factor XII (α-FXIIa) is able to bind to fibrin(ogen) and increases the density and stiffness of the fibrin clot. Conversely, proteins of the contact system and the fibrinolytic system show a high degree of homology and α-FXIIa can convert plasminogen into plasmin resulting in fibrin degradation. Therefore, we studied the contribution of α-FXIIa to overall clot stability and plasmin driven fibrinolysis in the absence and presence of tissue plasminogen activator (tPA). We observed that α-FXIIa directly converted plasminogen into plasmin and reduced clot lysis time at all tPA concentrations tested (15–1500 pM). Simultaneous assessment of plasmin generation (chromogenic substrate S-2251) and fibrin formation and degradation (absorbance at 405 nm), showed an earlier onset of fibrinolysis and plasmin formation in the presence of α-FXIIa. Fibrinolysis of clots formed under flow conditions, revealed that incorporation of α-FXIIa accelerated clot breakdown (fluorescence release of labeled fibrin) by additional plasmin generation on top of formation by tPA. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed that the surface area pore size increased in the presence compared with the absence of α-FXIIa when fibrinolysis was initiated by the conversion of plasminogen with tPA during clot formation. α-FXIIa enhances fibrinolysis in the presence of plasminogen, irrespective of whether tPA was present during clot formation or was added afterwards to initiate fibrinolysis. We postulate that FXIIa first strengthens the clot structure during clot formation and thereafter contributes towards fibrinolysis