The Royal Opera House and Covent Garden: A symbiotic and complex touristic relationship

The Royal Opera House has a longstanding and solid relationship with Covent Garden, which is an environmentally clustered urban area for tourism and culture rich in heritage, commercial ambience and provision of different types of performing arts. Located within the core of the area opposite its popular market place, its opulent main entrance faces a less visited precinct. This makes the building less visible to the area’s visitors raising questions about its role in the perception of Covent Garden. Given that current studies on flagship developments tend to focus on contemporary projects, this research aims to understand the influence that a well-established cultural flagship exerts in the perception of a popular area for tourism using the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden as a case study. To address this aim, a social constructivist approach was adopted and 306 semi-structured interviews were conducted with domestic and international visitors throughout six locations within the area to understand the role of the Opera House in the perception of Covent Garden. Findings indicate that cultural flagships tend to be stereotyped as grandiose freestanding buildings which is not the Royal Opera House’s case given Covent Garden’s urban density. Instead, its flagship status is related to the quality of its productions and its historical attachment to the area. This is rooted in the attraction of a diverse set of visitors and international talent leading to a cosmopolitan ambience and a strong sense of civic pride as the UK’s leading provider of opera and ballet productions

Perception and experience of urban areas for cultural tourism: A social constructivist approach in Covent Garden

Covent Garden is firmly established in London’s tourism landscape due to its commercial sector, distinctive architecture and provision of different forms of performing arts including the UK’s leading Opera House at its core. This study aims to understand the factors that shape the tourists’ perception and experience of this long standing urban precinct and the influence that the Royal Opera House exerts on these processes. It contributes to the understanding of how a well-established area is perceived and experienced by tourists exposed to a range of stimulating factors including a cultural flagship for the performing arts. A social constructivist approach was adopted to address this complex area of study from a non-foundational perspective. A total of 306 semi-structured interviews were conducted in a variety of locations revealing that age and nationality are fundamental elements underpinning the tourists’ perception and experience of place leading to a process of cultural appraisal

Approaching the kind tourist: Planet, animals and me in the world of culinary tourism

Food can play a fundamental role in tourists’ perception and experience of the destinations they visit. Culinary tourism is a highly significant segment of the tourism market and a wide array of sectors benefit from its development. However, it is important to note the challenges and issues that arise from a growing human population and its quest to satisfy its need to experience the traditional, the novel and the niche in terms of food consumption. The United Nations have been consistently flagging, since 2006, that animal-derived produce has major impacts on the environment as CO2 emissions resulting from animal agriculture have been identified as critically significant. From a health perspective, products of animal origin have been linked to a wide ranging set of harmful conditions including cancer and heart disease. From an ethical perspective, the industrial approach applied to using animals for food raises many ethical issues. The aim of this paper is to present a conceptual framework applied to the role of food on tourists’ perception and experience of place in line with the environmental/health/ethical issues linked to culinary products derived from animal agriculture

Cultural capital and destination image: Insights from the Opera House tourist.

Purpose This research aims to identify the factors that foster an interest in opera and Opera Houses as a specific form of cultural capital and how the Opera House tourist constructs images of destinations from the cognitive, affective and conative dimensions. Research design A social constructivist methodology was adopted, and data was captured through online qualitative questionnaires from 226 Opera House tourists using a simple random sampling approach. These enquired about the development of their interest in opera and Opera Houses and the influence this exerts on their destination image formation process. Findings This form of cultural capital is mainly developed through exposure to art forms through family, social and further reference groups. Opera Houses project cognitive images of cosmopolitanism, affective images of social belonging and conative images of further opportunities to experience culture and leisure fostering destination loyalty and place attachment. Research limitations/implications Productions of both opera and ballet are staged at Opera Houses opening avenues for further research on either the opera or ballet tourist markets specifically using case studies across the ample spectrum of Opera Houses around the world. Practical implications In addition to the visual appeal and quality of cultural produce, tourism practitioners can use an Opera House’s projected affective images of social cohesion and togetherness to attract the Opera House tourist market. An Opera House’s role in a destination’s visual and cultural landscape cements the need to preserve it and highlight its integration with other elements of its offer towards cultural tourism. Social implications The study highlights the need for cultural policy and audience development strategies that foster this type of cultural capital resulting in demand for and supply of cultural products that in turn stimulate the development of this niche cultural tourism market segment. Originality This is the first study that has approached the Opera House tourist from the destination image formation context

Positive Destination Image Building: The Power of Diet

A post-COVID 19 tourism and hospitality landscape faces a series of transformations as the pandemic has accelerated discourse and debates around consumption patterns and their implications on human health. At the same time, a growing body of evidence examines the extensive environmental impacts of animal agriculture as issues around animal welfare in food systems arise highlighting its links to corporate social responsibility and ethical frameworks. As a result, many tourists choose plant-based diets that are entirely free of animal produce for environmental, health and ethical reasons. Food often plays a central role in the tourist’s destination image formation process given the multisensorial nature of its consumption that may project differential destination attributes. Conceptual frameworks on destination image identify that these images can be approached from the cognitive (knowledge), affective (emotional) and conative (behavioural) dimensions (Stylidis, 2022). The role of food in destination image building has been widely researched but the influence that following a plant-based diet exerts on the tourist’s destination image-building process remains an area under-researched. Hence, a qualitative social constructivist approach was adopted and 20 semi-structured interviews with tourists who follow rigid plant-based diets were recruited using a combination of a simple random sample/snowball sampling approach. Although the study did not focus on a specific destination context, findings indicate that these dietary choices and requirements stimulate destination images of social belonging (affective) given the social nature of food consumption and community development around eating patterns. Images off-the-beaten-track (conative) are also elicited by plant-based diets as the quest for authentic culinary experiences results in engagement with less popular precincts and establishments, often regarded as more local and authentic. Images of cosmopolitanism (cognitive) are also stimulated given the progressive image projected by destinations that cater to the needs of a diverse set of tourists. Finally, images of emotional solidarity (conative) are also rooted in these tourists’ personal normative beliefs around food consumption. Therefore, this study highlights how health, environmental and ethical concerns influence consumption patterns and how the hospitality industry can make substantial contributions to positive destination image building

Social inclusion and audience development at the Royal Opera House: a tourist perspective

Purpose: The Royal Opera House, located at the epicentre of Covent Garden, stands as the UK’s leading provider of opera and ballet performances. Having been extensively redeveloped, its front facade is not visible from the area’s central market place and the perceived exclusivity and elitism commonly associated with its art forms also impose a challenge. This study aims to analyse the influence that the Opera House exerts on the tourist’s perception and experience of the world renowned London’s ‘Theatreland’. Design/methodology/approach: 306 semi-structured interviews with domestic, international, first time and repeat tourists were conducted in six different locations throughout the area and inside the flagship building using a convenience sampling approach. These were then analysed with the assistance of qualitative data analysis software (QSR N*Vivo) in two stages leading to an initial set of categorical topics that derived in a number of findings related to the factors that influence the tourist’s perception and experience of place. Findings: The Opera House’s perceived urban concealment proved to have an impact on its influence on Covent Garden’s sense of place. But its social inclusion and audience development initiatives that foster a new generation of opera and ballet theatre-goers emerged as important findings as the House’s open door policy for daytime visitors along with live relays of current opera and ballet productions in other locations spark an interest in experiencing the building from the inside. Research limitations/implications: The paper focuses exclusively on findings related to audience development and social inclusion initiatives currently used at the Royal Opera House and their impact on the tourist's perception and experience of place. However, many other factors influence these processes and scope for further research is highlighted. Practical implications: The Royal Opera House's perceived urban concealment impose a challenge to the task of developing new audiences for its current and future productions. Its Learning and Participation Unit must endeavor to engage younger and international markets by focusing on the quality of the House's performances, its heritage and added facilities of the venue such as exhibitions and shop. Originality/value: This paper addresses the gap in knowledge related to the development of the niche Opera House tourist segment of the cultural tourism market

Co-creating learning experiences to support student employability in travel and tourism.

This research evaluates the effectiveness of a modular programme of study that aims to develop a range of employability skills in travel and tourism students. The module contents and assessment regime use an experiential approach and are collaboratively delivered by focusing on CV and cover letter writing techniques, job interview skills and other recruitment tools. To measure its impact, semi-structured interviews with students revealed that the experiential nature of the module engenders confidence when participating in job assessment centres. It also highlights the value of informing it through a range of perspectives leading to students with a distinctive competitive advantage