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

Integrated regional planning for sustainable tourism - research note - cutting edge section

2000-2001 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journa

Travel Preferences of Overseas Destinations by Mainland Chinese Online Users

Despite the financial crisis in the second half of 2008 together with the global outbreak of Influenza A H1N1 in 2009, Mainland China’s (hereafter known as China) outbound tourism continued to grow steadily. The rapid development of the Chinese economy is the major force propelling the development of sustainable outbound tourism. Other factors, such as a consistent policy about the expansion of outbound destinations and on-going improvement in living standards have provided good motivations for the growth of the Chinese outbound tourism. Therefore, understanding the travel preferences of Chinese travellers is regarded as one of the important issues in tourism businesses worldwide. Along with the rapid development of Internet applications in China, the Internet is a new way for Chinese travellers to search and share travel information. Due to the growing size of Chinese online users, the Internet becomes the most resourceful medium to understand consumers from this huge market. This paper presents the findings of a study that investigates the travel preferences of Chinese online users by collecting data from Elong.com and Ctrip.com, representing the major and the most popular travel websites in China. Research findings are expected to make a meaningful contribution to better understand what Chinese online users like to visit.School of Hotel and Tourism Managemen

Managing customer expectations: a study of two four-star hotels in Malaysia and Singapore

Successful management of customer expectations is an extremely important factor in achieving customer satisfaction. A hospitable culture and user-friendly technology are required to meet customers' expectations. While technology can have a major impact on customer satisfaction, the various cultural backgrounds of guests also have a significant influence. In the paper, the hotel guests’ cultural backgrounds were studied to understand this aspect's influence on their expectations and satisfaction. Three major cultural factors, namely brand identity (domestic vs. foreign), customers’ native language, and their country of residence, were observed and analyzed to determine guests' expectations. The research study used a qualitative design to analyze the data, collected from field observations at two hotels: a Singapore hotel and another in Malaysia. Reviews were also collected from hotel booking websites, in order to understand how the hotels satisfy guest expectations